Battle Earth
by Hinoryu
Summary: Two years after the Ceremonial Battle, Kaiba declares the start of a new tournament. The entire Earth goes to duel each other, but as always, a villain comes to take advantage of it. So the single most unlikely group possible has to stop it.
1. Opening

_Hinoryu here. Just a few author's notes to get us started._

_Welcome to Battle Earth, a fanfiction of Hinoryu's devising. I use characters made by myself and a group of friends. Unless you're a member of Duel Academy r:2 or otherwise a very good friend of mine, don't bother asking if I'll use your character, I won't._

_Also, this takes place two years after the ending of the Ceremonial Battle. This, if GX is to be believed, would be about 1998… Well, I'm sort of ignoring that part, act like it takes place, for the most part, in roughly 2007, yet GX won't start for another 8 years yet, if I'm recalling the timeline correctly._

_Also, something to remember: The characters are mostly Japanese, and should be assumed to be speaking Japanese unless stated otherwise._

_This fic will follow Japanese canon, not the dub. There will thus be no Shadow Realm, no magical Heart of the Cards other than the one mentioned on rare occasion in the Japanese, and there will be no dub names. If you need to know the names… Look 'em up._

_There's a few game terms I need to get cleared up before I can start, as well._

_First off: They're magic cards, not spell cards._

_Next: As per the good Yu-gi-oh fics, most cards will use their real-world effects. Card of Sanctity will retain its' real life effect. The card that allows both players to draw until they have six cards will be referred to as Coins from Heaven._

_Also, certain cards that I feel have had their names changed stupidly will retain their Japanese games. This includes Antique Gear monsters, the E-Heroes, the D-Heroes, the Chess Demons, and others as they show up._

_I think that's everything. If I've forgotten anything, it will show up when I remember it. Artistic license will be taken on occasion, please deal with it._

_That said, welcome to the…_

Memorial Tournament.

Many voices in many languages in many countries were all murmuring the same thing. Memorial Tournament. What was it? What's going on? Where and when?

Seto Kaiba sighed. He hung up the phone with Pegasus. He loved his little brother dearly, but even he had limits... He sighed, rubbed his temples, and took a long drink of coffee. How did he get roped into this again?

Ah yes. Mokuba. He came running in one day, yelling he had the greatest idea.

"It's been about a year and a half since the other Yuugi passed on, right?!" Mokuba yelled excitedly. "Let's have a tournament as a memorial thing!" Kaiba paused for a moment.

"A year-and-a-half memorial?" He asked doubtfully.

Mokuba waved his arms. "No, no, no... Two years! We'll need about that long to prepare it... The biggest tournament ever!"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

Mokuba's idea had indeed been interesting. Now, five and a half months later, when they were ready to implement it, Kaiba was sorely regretting bringing Pegasus in on it. He never would have if Mokuba hadn't insisted on doing so.

Kaiba would have expected at least a tiny grudge or something. He did steal Mokuba's soul and stick it in a card after all. But Mokuba firmly held that it wasn't Pegasus's fault, it was the creepy eye he had. Once that was gone, Mokuba didn't have a problem with the strange man at all. Especially after he had made it up to Mokuba with the entire series of Funny Rabbit on DVD. Kaiba suspected the real purpose of this gift was to annoy him.

Kaiba shook his head. The new Duel Disks were ready. The stage was set. The tournament was to begin in a week. The invitations had been mailed. Now what?

He was answered by a shrill beeping. Kaiba made a mental note to fire his secretary, and picked up the phone.

-------------------- 

Akihara Ryuuji took a swig from a bottle of milk while reading the newspaper. He looked up at the clock. 6:55 AM... He hated working early hours. Anything before noon was murder. Fortunately, he had another half-hour before he actually had to leave.

He was nothing remarkable to look at. A nineteen year old with spiky black hair, kind of tall. He was thin, but still enough muscle to look after himself. His black jacket was folded over his chair, his nametag still clipped to it. He was in a white t-shirt and jeans. One thing working at a convenience store had going for it, the dress code was fairly slack.

He looked back at the paper, open to the duel section. French champion Napoleon Bonaparte had defeated Italian champion Chronos de Medici, the latter vowing revenge. Some bald kook had started a dojo in Tibet for Cyber-style dueling... Ryuuji wondered who would go to something like that.

Aha, the Japanese amateur rankings. Ryuuji puffed up with pride when he saw his own name... and promptly deflated again when he saw he had sunk from number 47 to 50.

"Miss one lousy tournament and they drop you three ranks..." he grumbled to himself."Like I wanted to miss it? Noooo, it was miss it or lose my job..."

He tossed aside the paper and walked out to his mailbox. "Bill. Junk. Chain letter. Junk. Letter from Mom. Bill. Tournament invitation. Bill. J-" He paused. "Tournament invitation?"

His eyes bugged out. "It's from Kaiba Corp!" He was suddenly back on cloud nine. "Yes! My luck is turning around! Despite my ranking, Seto Kaiba himself realized my amazing talents and thus invited me to a special tournament!" he cried.

He tore the letter open and began to read.

_"To Akihara Ryuuji, our regards. We are pleased to announce the beginning of the Memorial Tournament._

_Every single duelist in the world, pro, amateur, or otherwise will be there."_

Ryuuji sighed dejectedly again. He wasn't that special after all, it seemed. He continued reading, though.

_"Please report to the Domino Plaza tonight at 3 PM for further information. _

_-Seto Kaiba and Pegasus J. Crawford."_

Ryuuji's eyes bugged out again at the last line. Duel Monster's creator and biggest supporter teaming up for something like this? It would be incredible. He had to attend. There was only one problem.

His boss.

-------------------- 

"No." The word was like a guillotine.

"But boss!" Ryuuji pleaded. "This is the biggest tournament in history! You have to let me!"

Ryuuji's boss, a thickly-built woman who resembled a small gorilla, loomed over him. She was rumored to once have been put on trial for murder. She got off, but no one dared shoplift from her store. Ryuuji cowered under her gaze.

"You've missed enough work with all those other tournaments. How am I supposed to keep a business running with my employee never being here?" she asked.

"Besides," another voice sneered. "You'd never get far with that deck."

"That voice... Jigokubana Shin." Ryuuji muttered with venom in his voice.

A tall, lanky man walked in. He looked to be about the same age as Ryuuji, though similarities ended there. He wore a black shirt and jeans that made his thin appearance seem slightly bigger. A trench coat over the clothing gave a slightly intimidating appearance. He had black hair with red streaks through it. But his eyes contrasted everything else. A piercing blue that held nothing but utmost contempt for Ryuuji.

"Who else?" he smirked. "But like I said, go ahead and stay out of this tournament. After all, a second-rate duelist with a deck like that could never beat me in it... A beatdown deck that any idiot could use." He laughed contemptuously.

"Why you... You think a sneaky little bastard like you is any better?!" he shouted.

"Yes. You forget our win-loss ratio. 99 wins, 7 losses... Or are you going to give me my hundredth?" he smirked. "Can a pathetic ronin who is stuck working at a second-rate convenience store come close?"

"Second-rate?!" Ryuuji's boss practically shrieked.

Shin turned to her and bowed. "Sorry, my mistake. Third-rate."

Something in her head snapped. "Akihara. Beat this guy senseless and you can have the time off for this tournament."

Bowing deeply, Ryuuji shouted. "Yes ma'am!" Turning to Shin, the two of them nodded grimly and stepped outside, Duel Disks at the ready.

They stepped into a secluded alley so no one would interfere. Ryuuji looked Shin in the eye. Tension built up until it could practically choke a person.

Finally, Ryuuji threw an arm around Shin. "You did it, man! I owe ya!"

Calmly removing Ryuuji's arm from his shoulder, Shin sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Did you have to wake me up so early for it? I was sleeping rather comfortably when you dragged me into it."

Ryuuji grinned. "Where this time? Your couch? Your table? Your oven? Oooh, I know, that dumpster out back!"

Shin simply gave him a deadpan look. "Sleeping in odd places is actually more resting than one of those strange Western beds. And you know my problem with futons."

"Yes, yes, I know. Random things living in them... I still maintain that was just a stray cat, not a giant rat like you were yelling." Ryuuji laughed.

Shin sighed. "Anyways. Shall we head over to the Plaza? We have time to spare, but if there will truly be every duelist around there, we should get there before the crowd."

-------------------- 

A man clad in a white cloak giggled to himself. "Shall I kill them all? Shall I kill myself? Death, dead, die, doom. Such a funny thing. Let's bleach the world... change it all... pure..." He collapsed, giggling, as his cloak flew off.

What was under it would disturb the most imperturbable people. The man appeared to be in his thirties. He had long, shaggy hair, and his face looked as though it hadn't been shaved in about two weeks. However, the most disturbing thing about him was his color.

He was white. Not Caucasian. He was simply pure white. It was as if his body had been simply purged of any and all color. Even his eyes, where a normal iris would be black, as a pure, unsettling white. His hair, his clothing, his fingernails... As he laughed, even the inside of his mouth was white.

He looked like nothing more than a drawing. Black lines gave him a defining form, but aside from that, inside those lines, was just white, like paper.

The man forced himself up to his knees. And still giggling, he coughed up blood, also pure white, and collapsed into the puddle of blood that had formed.

"Hehehe... Let's... reset it... the purity of... nothing..." With that, he simply ceased to be. The outlines that formed him faded, and color seemed to leak through the weakened lines... Not his own color, though. He became slowly translucent, then transparent, and then simply nonexistent.

In his place was a simple white shred of an aura. It looked, realizing its host had just faded from existence, and gave a mental shrug. _Oh well._ it thought, as it floated out, to rejoin its' main body.

-------------------- 

Shin sighed. Apparently, many others had had the idea of getting there early. It didn't help that he was being dragged along by Ryuuji.

"Hey, there he is! I knew he'd be here. Hey, Stephen!" Ryuuji yelled.

Shin winced. Did he have to be so loud? And who was Stephen, anyway? An American?

Shin was answered by Stephen himself appearing. At first glance, he appeared to be fifteen. Black hair in a mullet. Simple blue T-shirt and jeans, and a kanji tattoo on his upper arm. 長江女神... Choukou joshin?

Shin paused in thought. Choukou was the Yangtze River in China. The Yangtze River goddess...? Some obscure religion, perhaps?

"HEY SHIN!" Ryuuji yelled in his ear, snapping Shin out of his thoughts, reflexively smacking Ryuuji. "Ow... Hey, don't zone out like that!"

"Sorry." Shin apologized in a tone that made it perfectly clear he was anything but. "What were you saying?"

"Well, after you went off to wherever, I met Stephen here and we started hanging out a lot. He's a pretty good duelist; I bet he could beat you." Ryuuji grinned.

"..." There was a pause. "First off, 'Stephen'? You don't look American."

"I'm not." Stephen said, talking for the first time. Shin noted his voice seemed a bit lower than he expected, throwing his previous assessment of fifteen into slight doubt. Perhaps sixteen? Certainly no older. "My name's Suta Han'u. But it sounds like Stephen, and I like Stephen better."

"Ah, very well." Shin nodded. "Also... If I'm right about dates, school just got out for the summer. Don't you have summer homework to do? Putting it off can make you fail college exams... Like this guy."

"Actually, I graduated back in April... I'm 18." Stephen muttered, cutting off protests from Ryuuji.

Shin processed the information calmly. There was a long pause.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" He asked, finally.

"I'm 18."

"..." Shin apparently could not reply.

"I think you broke him, Stephen..." Ryuuji said quietly, poking Shin in the arm. He was slightly worried when there was no response.

"You were just as bad." Stephen reminded him.

"I was not!" Ryuuji protested.

"You asked for my ID three times."

"Did not!"

"And I wasn't even buying anything that'd need ID..." Stephen sighed.

-------------------- 

As Shin readjusted his view on the world, a stranger bumped into them... literally. Ryuuji stumbled forward as the back of his head was thwacked soundly by a large camera. "Son of a- OW!" he yelped.

"Oh, sorry!" the new arrival said. Ryuuji, once he could see straight, got a decent look at her.

She was a couple years older than him. Messy was a good word to describe her. She honestly looked like she had just crawled out of a closet. Light purple hair, cut mostly short, though there was a small ponytail in the back. Her clothes (a light blue button-up shirt and blue jeans) were both extremely wrinkled, with a pen tucked behind her ear, and carrying a large pile of camera equipment so she could barely see where she was going.

"I can't see much right now... Can you give me a hand?" She asked. "My name's Hoshino. Jouhou Hoshino, reporter extraordinaire!"

"You're a reporter? That explains the camera equipment..." Stephen said, with his firm grasp of the obvious.

"Huh... If you're a reporter, how come I've never seen you on the news?" Ryuuji asked, with his usual grasp, or lack thereof, on diplomacy.

"Er... well..." She stumbled. "You just... must... not have been watching the right channels! Yeah!"

"If you say so..." Ryuuji sighed.

"Hey, help me set this up!" She demanded.

"Huh? But I don't know ho-" He tried to protest.

"Just do it!"

_How annoying..._ Shin thought to himself.

-------------------- 

After some fumbling, they got it set up. Just in time, as Kaiba's face began appearing on the screens. With a solemn expression, he began speaking.

"Welcome to the Memorial Tournament." he said calmly. "First, I will answer what I'm sure most of you are wondering. Why is this a memorial tournament?

"That answer is simple. Two years ago today, a duelist died. Not just any duelist, either. This duelist was one of the few I would consider my equal in dueling... Perhaps even greater than me. Yet despite his skill, he wasn't famous. He received no credit from the world for his incredible duels. A man only ever defeated twice, and only one of those was a fair victory.

"He had an abnormally long life... It seemed he could not die until he was defeated in a duel. Once he was defeated, he was allowed to put down his sword and rest.

"He was an Egyptian man named Atemu. Remember his name... He could out-duel the gods themselves."

There was a moment's silence as everyone took in this knowledge. Ryuuji wondered what this had to do with the tournament.

"Atemu's only passion was for dueling. Battle City was one of his favorite events... So this time, we're blowing Battle City out of the water." Kaiba smirked. "Welcome to the Memorial Tournament... Battle Earth."

The crowd suddenly began to murmur excitedly. Battle Earth? What did that mean? Then it was-

Kaiba resumed speaking again. "The entire Earth is the battleground... Even off of Earth. If you somehow make it into orbit, duel there anyway. The moon is fair game. Anywhere you can meet and duel is part of the tournament. Kaiba Corp will have transportation to carry you - Show them your Disk and as long as you're in the tournament, passage is free.

"Every duelist in the world is taking part. There are a few exceptions, though. Certain top-tier duelists, myself included, will be Eliminators in the tournament. Mutou Yuugi, Katsuya Jonouchi, and even Ishtar Malik are as well.

"There is a new form of Duel Disk to be used in this tournament. Loss of this disk will lose you any chance at victory, so guard it with your life."

Ryuuji paused. "So it's just a really big Battle City..? That's hardly worth the fuss.  
Shin elbowed him in the ribs. "Shush, he's still talking."

"The conditions for victory are simple. Get into the room where the finals are held."

'So what's the catch...?' the assembled crowd wondered.

"However, you will have to find the room yourself... And figure out how to get in."

There was a collective sigh from the crowd.

"Once you're strong enough, though, the Duel Disks will direct you to certain people... They can advise you on how to make it to the room. Now, onto the main part...

"I'm incorporating a new system into this tournament." Kaiba stated. "It is called the Personal Ability system... And it will show the true strength of a duelist.

"These new disks, using new Disclosure technology, will, at the start of your first duel, show you your ability. As you duel, it will measure your emotions, decision-making, and will as a duelist, and your ability will evolve accordingly. Winning duels will make your ability grow stronger. Losing will make it weaker. And if your ability gets any weaker than how it starts out, you're out of the tournament.

"This ability is unique to you. No one else you duel will have your ability. You can activate it at any time during the duel, unless the ability requires otherwise. The ability cannot be chained to. Sometimes, they will have costs... Those costs cannot be negated. Not even by Spell Economics.

"Think of it like a Deck master system, just with yourself as the master."  
"What's a deck master system?" Ryuuji asked. Shin and Stephen just shrugged.

"Also, this tournament shall use a custom ban list. You will receive a copy of the ban list when you get your Duel Disk. All gaming stores that sell Disks have gotten a shipment of the custom Disks to hand out to participants. Construct your decks around this.

"And while I'm on the subject of rules... This tournament will use Super-Expert rules. Duels begin with eight thousand life points instead of the usual four-thousand. Monsters may have different effects from usual. The Industrial Illusions web page has a list of the monsters affected by these errata. Be sure to look out for that.

"And for the part you've been waiting for... The prizes.

"The prize is simple. One billion yen from Kaiba Corp, or its' equivalent if a foreigner wins. And Industrial Illusions will make one card for you of your design. Any card. A card more powerful than the Gods themselves, if you choose. The only limit is your imagination."

A murmur rippled through the crowd. Any card? Whatsoever? Most of the crowd had already forgotten about the money in favor of that card.

"Now then..."

There was a sudden roar from a helicopter above. A ladder was hanging from the bottom, and hanging onto that was Seto Kaiba himself. Standing on the ladder with his trademark white trenchcoat billowing. He shouted to the crowd, somehow able to be heard over the loud chopper.

"The tournament begins the instant you get your disk! If you have the guts and the skill, rise to the top!" He smirked down at the crowd.

Ryuuji stared up at him. The man who wielded the three Blue Eyes White Dragons... The greatest dragons. The rarest and most famous. Ryuuji wondered... if he won the tournament, he'd get a card even rarer and more powerful than the Blue Eyes. If he won the tournament...

Kaiba looked down at the crowd. Ryuuji looked up at the helicopter. And the two briefly locked eyes. Ryuuji grinned widely. Kaiba turned his head and continued surveying the crowd, apparently without noticing.

"The Memorial Tournament... Battle Earth shall begin now!" He shouted. With that, the helicopter rose up and flew off. The crowd waited a moment, then, almost all at once, shot off in all directions to find their favorite gaming store to get their disks. Ryuuji, Shin, Stephen, and Hoshino were soon the only ones left in the place.

-------------------- 

Ryuuji wished he was among the bolting crowd, actually. However, he somehow found himself helping Hoshino packing up her equipment. He sighed.

"Shin, how did I get roped into helping her again?" He asked exasperatedly, when he nearly dropped the camera for the third time.

"You're a sucker." Shin stated simply.

"What?! Hey!"

"It's true." Shin sighed. "You've never been able to refuse anything a girl asked you, you know."

Stephen nodded. "I haven't even known you that long and even I can vouch for that."

"That's not true! I can-" Ryuuji started to say.

"Hey, can you carry this, too?" Hoshino interrupted, holding out a notepad.

"Huh? Oh, sure." Ryuuji shuffled a few things around in his arms and took the notepad. Shin and Stephen sighed simultaneously.

They managed to drag Hoshino's equipment back to a nearby hiding spot. Behind a few bushes, they found Hoshino's bike, and a couple duffle bags to carry the equipment in.

Shin sighed. "Hanging around you is always exhausting, Akihara. Why is that?"

"Because he gets us roped into things like this." Stephen stated.

"I'm not that ba-"

"Yes you are." All three others cut it. Shin and Stephen looked at Hoshino, curious as to why she had agreed.

"I met you ten minutes ago and it's obvious." She shrugged.

"That's just harsh..." Ryuuji sighed.

-------------------- 

Ryuuji, being the sucker he was, got stuck inviting everyone back to his apartment for everyone to go through their decks before the tournament started. Shin had managed to grab a copy of the new ban list from a store on their way back. Hoshino was actually looking it over, surprising everyone.

"I never thought you were a duelist." Stephen noted. "Just a reporter with nothing else to do."

Hoshino nodded. "Actually, I'm fairly good, I think. My deck has about a seventy percent win ratio... Oh, excellent... My main support went from one per deck to three!"

"So what kind of deck do you run?" Ryuuji asked her.

"Ah-ah..." She grinned. "You'll have to wait for the tournament to find out."

"Man... I don't want to duel any of you first round in the tournament." Ryuuji mentioned. "I don't want to end up knocking out someone I know so early on."

"Or getting knocked out by someone you'd have to see again." Shin added. Ryuuji glared at him.

"Anyways." Ryuuji looked at the building before him. "Second floor, apartment 4. Careful not to step on the neighbor's cat." He led everyone inside, with only minor mishaps involving Stephen trodding on the poor cat's tail, and everyone entered his apartment.

-------------------- 

After taking off their shoes in the entryway, Stephen made a mad dash and got the big chair in the living room. Shin calmly followed and seated himself on the couch. Hoshino elected to stand and look around while Ryuuji ran into the kitchen to fetch drinks.

Looking around the room, Hoshino noticed one thing: Dragons. They were everywhere. Models on the shelves, posters on the wall, even his book collection was mostly dragons. European dragons, Chinese dragons, Hollywood dragons... Even a figure of what looked like Grendel. Hoshino laughed to herself quietly. Now she knew what deck to expect from this guy... As if she couldn't have guessed it from his name.

Ryuuji came back in with sodas, and handed them out. "Hey, let me see that list." he told Shin.

"Very well." He handed it over.

"Hey, look at this! Monster Reborn got returned to one per deck." Ryuuji opened up a couple drawers hidden under the table, revealing several large rows of cards.

"Yata Garasu is still banned, though." Stephen noted. "There's probably a lot of people happy about that."

"Both Envoys are banned." Shin commented. "I thought Kaiba himself used the Chaos Emperor Dragon... Odd that he'd limit himself in such a way."

"Not necessarily." Hoshino countered. "He is the best player around. I bet he felt like handicapping himself to keep it interesting."

"That could be." Shin conceded. "What's this card? 'Tsukuyomi'? Don't recall running into it before."

"It's one of those spirit things that no one uses, I think." Stephen told him.

"There's a good reason for it. Too hard to keep a stable field." Ryuuji muttered. "Keeping them on the field requires a spell card... And unless you've got the money to shell out for a Judgment of Anubis, you're leaving yourself wide open using those cards."

"What about Curse of Royal?" Shin pointed out.

This banter continued for a while, with some card trading and haggling in between. Finally, Ryuuji stood and announced:

"Well, our decks are as good as they're gonna get, so let's go get our disks..." He grinned widely, then yelled in English. "Let's get this party started!"

Outside his room, a terrified cat fled from the yelling, nursing its' injured tail.

_  
Next chapter, the tournament starts proper, as Ryuuji faces an opponent who has a decktype he has a lot of experience against... And only seven wins to ninety-nine losses. But unfortunately, this opponent's strategy is different enough from the one he's used to to keep him completely off his usual game..._

_Can Ryuuji win when all of his good monsters are in the Graveyard before he can even draw them? Next chapter will reveal... In "Hellfire"._


	2. Hellfire

_Battle Earth! I can't believe I'm in this! It's my first duel of the tournament, and I'm going up against a person who's bound to be pretty tough… But I gotta try my best! No _way_ I can lose in the first round! But she's… burning my deck up. This'll be tricky, but I'll pull through somehow!_

_Here we go! Ready… **Duel!!**_

Duel 2

Hellfire

"Wooooooaaaaah!" Ryuuji yelled. "It's so cool!"

He had just pulled his duel disk out of its box, and was examining it from all angles. It was a golden color, resembling the Battle City disks. The main difference was, even when turned off, it still had its tray still in one piece. It was still curved like the Battle City duel disks, monster zones split in groups of three and two. The Life Point counter was actually between the two groups of zones. The circle over the wrist strap, where the deck slot and graveyard were, was a lighter gold, and had a large Eye of Horus emblazoned in the center.

"I gotta try it out!" he exclaimed. He took off running towards a group of people, waving his disk. Then there came a sudden realization that he wasn't going anywhere. And there was a significant pressure around his neck, completely cutting off his ability to breathe. In other words: Shin was holding him back by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't be stupid." Shin told him. "You don't even know anyone there. For all you know, they could be the top five amateurs in Japan, Fifty-san; and just waiting to knock you out…"

"Or," Stephen interrupted, "they could just not be duelists at all." He pointed at them again, and indeed, not one of them was wearing a disk.

Ryuuji smiled sheepishly. "That… would make some sense." He admitted. Not everyone was a duelist just because they were nearby. Fortunately, he didn't have to dwell on his mistake for long, as their conversation was interrupted by a large explosion from about a block away.

Ryuuji took off running. Hoshino, Shin, and Stephen, in an impressive display of coordination, sighed and face-palmed in unison, and then followed.

The source of the explosion was revealed to be, as Ryuuji had assumed, a duel. (Shin, Stephen, and Hoshino had arrived at the much more logical conclusion of danger.) Ryuuji took a good look at the victor.

The first and foremost trait that struck him was how short she was. Not a midget by any means, but still at least a head shorter than Ryuuji. She had short brown hair, messily tied into a bun. She also had brown eyes, and a strange grin. The grin unnerved most bystanders, except for Ryuuji. Shin wondered briefly if it was possible to unnerve him once he was riled up… He never seemed to realize how much trouble he could get himself into.

"First victory!" the girl smiled to herself. "Anyone else want to take me on?"

Shin and Stephen made halfhearted attempts to stop Ryuuji from leaping forward, as Hoshino just sat back and watched. After successfully evading his friends, he leaped into the position the defeated duelist had had moments before.

"Duel me!" He called. Then he paused. He then muttered to himself, "That was lame. I should find a new, dramatic way of challenging someone."

"I don't think he realizes we can hear him." Stephen blinked. Shin merely sighed, while Hoshino laughed.

The girl looked him over. "And who are you?"

"Akihara Ryuuji!" he proclaimed proudly. "Number forty-se-"

"Fifty." Shin cut him off.

"…Number fifty in the Japanese amateur ranks! You?"

Her eyes widened. "I haven't gotten to duel someone who's actually ranked in any circuit, even the amateurs…Enshou Kizuna, will be delighted to duel you!"

Stephen thought for a moment. "I guess that must be her name."

Shin nodded. "If they'd simply cut the drama and just get on with it, it would be much easier…"

"Don't underestimate the power of a proper dramatic spin." Hoshino warned. "You'd be amazed at what it can do for you."

"Drama or no, it won't help him…" Shin sighed. "He's already lost."

Hoshino and Stephen looked at him, confused. "How can you say that already?"

"I pay attention."

There was a pause.

"Aren't you going to _explain_?!" Hoshino exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Did you see the decks?" Shin asked. Hoshino and Stephen thought for a minute.

"I didn't think it was important." Stephen said. "It was that guy's life that hit zero, not his deck."

Hoshino nodded. "What's wrong?"

Shin sighed. "His deck had maybe three cards left. Unless he did it to himself, she's running an offensive mill strategy…"

"It shouldn't be that bad, right?" Hoshino asked. "He lost due to life points running out, not his deck, like Stephen said."

Shin shook his head. "Ninety-nine, seven, zero."

Another pause.

"…Huh?" Stephen asked articulately.

"Our win-loss-draw record." Shin explained. "One hundred six matches. I won ninety nine of them. Mill is a strategy he's very rarely able to beat… Five of the seven were his knowing my deck well enough to know what to avoid."

"The others?" Stephen asked.

Shin seemed reluctant to answer, but finally admitted. "One, I didn't draw a single card I could use for the entire duel…"

"And the other?" Hoshino pressed.

"I don't want to talk about it." They couldn't get any more out of him.

Ryuuji held out his arm. "Let's go!" he shouted. The card tray extended. The life point counter flared to life. The center of the Eye of Horus glowed… And suddenly, a flat screen appeared in front of Ryuuji.

_Loading…  
KaibaCorp Duel Disk System mk 3  
RAM loading… 128 TBConnection to KC servers online  
Connection Speed 2 TB/s  
Registry confirmed: Akihara Ryuuji  
Deck… loaded  
Ban-list… confirmed  
Safety… online  
Personal Ability… scanning  
Personal Ability analyzed.  
Would you like an explanation of your ability?  
Y/N_

"That… is interesting." Ryuuji whistled. "I get the feeling I'd be a lot more impressed if I knew what a TB was." Unfazed by the sound of no less than ten palms hitting their faces, he selected "Y" and watched.

The screen changed. Now it displayed himself, several cards, and his life point counter, and text at the bottom.

"So the abilities get names?" Ryuuji thought to himself. "That's kinda cool." He watched the animation until it finished. Selecting "no" when asked if he wanted to repeat the explanation, he turned back to Kizuna and waved.

"Sorry about that! Didn't know it'd do that!" he called cheerfully. He drew five cards. "Who first?"

Kizuna's disk beeped. "Apparently, me." She replied. "Draw!"

She looked at her hand and smirked broadly. "I summon Shining Angel in attack mode!" She placed the card on the disk.

Ryuuji looked around. For a second, it looked like nothing happened. Then he noticed a strange light on her field. And down from the heavens flew a young man with large white wings. (1400 ATK)

"That ends my turn!" She grinned.

"She didn't leave anything out to defend it." Stephen pointed out.

"Yes… That was likely intentional." Shin sighed. "She wants it to be destroyed… And because her opponent is an idiot when it comes to that, he's going to."

"My turn! Draw!" Ryuuji called. Looking at his hand, he smiled. "Yes! Here I go! I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode!"

A roar sounded from behind him, and a sparkling blue dragon swooped down and landed on his field. (1900 ATK)

"You made a mistake, Kizuna! Leaving a weakling out in attack mode without defense!" He yelled. "Now you're gonna pay for it! Luster Dragon attacks Shining Angel! Sapphire Flame!"

The dragon spread its wings and shot up into the air. Wheeling around until it was behind Ryuuji, it shot forward, shooting a large gout of blue flame at the angel, incinerating it instantly. Kizuna's life points sank as the dragon preformed a loop-de-loop and landed neatly on Ryuuji's field, blowing a small puff of smoke.

Kizuna smirked as her life points settled at 7500. "Shining Angel's effect activates! I summon a Light-type monster from my deck! I summon Sasuke Samurai #3!"

Ryuuji drew back. What was that? A samurai? A deadly warrior-type, it had to be! Ryuuji's mind immediately leapt to images of Gearfried the Swordmaster in samurai gear. He started sweating.

A glowing tear in space appeared where Shining Angel was seconds before. Ryuuji gulped as something stirred inside it. Finally, out leapt… a small orange ball with arms, legs, and a blue topknot.

Ryuuji paused. "T-That?"

Shin looked at it. "Well, that certainly wasn't what I would expect from a Mill deck…"

Stephen blinked. "It's a ball."

"It's cute!" Hoshino said happily. Shin and Stephen both gave her strange looks and shrugged.

"S- So, I, uh… assume it's… got a special effect?" Ryuuji stammered, still confused. He was unsure whether he should be laughing or terrified.

"Yep!" Kizuna smirked. "But you'll have to wait 'til my turn to see it!"  
_Great…_ Ryuuji thought. "In that case, I'll set two cards in my magic and trap zone and end my turn." He hated monsters he didn't know… Tricky effects were the worst. What was wrong with battles, anyway?

(RYUUJI: 8000) (KIZUNA: 7500)

"Draw!" Kizuna suited action to words. "I play the magic card, Stray Lambs!"

"Even I know that card!" Ryuuji called. "You can't summon anything when you play it! That's ju-"

"There's no rule in this game that can't be broken!" Kizuna yelled back. "I summon two Stray Lamb Tokens in defense mode!" Sure enough, two small fluffy sheep appeared on her field.

"She's got a deck full of cute things, it looks!" Hoshino smiled.

Shin decided not to comment there.

"Then I sacrifice them both for-"

"Hold it!" Ryuuji yelled.

"What, you're Naruhodo Ryuuji now?" Kizuna asked.

"…Huh?"

"Never mind."

"Uh, okay. Anyway, you can't summon on the turn you play Stray Lambs! That's cheating!"

"Objection!" she yelled.

"… What?" Ryuuji blinked, extremely confused.

"Not much of a video gamer, are you…" Kizuna commented. "Anyways. You're perfectly right. I can't summon a thing the turn I use Stray Lambs… Which is why I'm not summoning with them."

Ryuuji didn't follow. "Wait, what?"

"I sacrifice two Stray Lamb tokens to _set_ a monster!"

"Take That!'" Shin muttered under his breath.

Ryuuji stared. "That's… so cheap!" he yelled.

"And I'm not done either!" she grinned. "I play the Book of Taiyou!"

"… Clever. Cheap, but clever." Ryuuji muttered.

"Reveal monster… The great, the dreaded, the feared… Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi!"

"… The what?"

A large man with fiery red hair appeared on the field. He flexed his muscles and smirked evilly, clearly expecting everyone's attention, fear, and wonder. Possibly due to the fact all he wore was nothing more than, in Ryuuji's eyes, a skirt. (2800 ATK)

There was a long pause.

"… No, seriously. I've never heard of that card." Ryuuji muttered.

Shin sighed. "It's one of those Spirits we were discussing earlier."

"Oooh. In that case, no problem; I just have to last one turn. Then it's back in her hand!"

"I play Spiritual Energy Settle Machine!"

"… _DAMMIT!_"

"I take it you know what this does." Kizuna smirked.

"Yeah… Discarding a card in your End Phase, you can keep Spirit monsters on the field." Ryuuji recited.

"… You didn't know about spirit monsters, how did you know that?" Shin asked, almost astonished.

"It was on sale at the shop we got our Disks at. I pay attention! …sometimes." Ryuuji muttered.

"Well, then. Let's go!" Kizuna yelled. "I equip Sasuke Samurai #3 with Axe of Despair!" The small samurai grabbed the axe and swung it experimentally. (2000 ATK)

"_CRAP!_" Ryuuji yelled again.

"I att-"

"I activate both my traps!" Ryuuji yelled. "First, The Dragon's Bead! From now on, when you target Dragons with a trap, I can discard a card from my hand and negate the trap!" A large green gem appeared on the field next to Ryuuji. "Next, is Threatening Roar!"

Luster Dragon took in a deep breath, looked at Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, and Sasuke Samurai, and let out an ear-shattering roar. Sasuke Samurai dropped his axe and leapt back, drawing his swords and assumed a protective stance, while Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi comically tried to hide behind him.

"Ergh… Damn!" Kizuna muttered. "During the End Phase, I have to discard a card to the graveyard to keep Spiritual Energy Settle Machine on the field." She slid the last card in her hand to the discard slot, causing the large grey Machine behind her to whir slightly and spit out a cloud of smoke. Sasuke Samurai then re-sheathed his swords and took his axe up. Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi looked around sheepishly, then leapt back into his position, cracking his knuckles.

"Draw!" Ryuuji examined his hand. _This… is so not good._ He thought. "I switch Luster Dragon to defense mode! Then I set a monster! Turn end!" The shining blue dragon curled up and covered itself with its wings.

"Not good. She's got him defending." Shin muttered. "He hates that."

"I'd be more worried about those two monsters… You were right about the 'offensive mill' strategy." Stephen told him

"How so?" Hoshino asked.

"Watch and see. It's not as bad as it could be…"

"Draw!" Kizuna jumped with glee. "I play Pot of Greed!" The large pot appeared in front of her, and she drew twice. "Then I equip Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi with Fairy Meteor Crush!"

The man smirked as he raised his arms to the heavens. Sure enough, floating up there was a large meteor.

"Erk…" Ryuuji knew what was coming.

"Attack, Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi! Spirit Meteor Fire!" Kizuna commanded. The Spirit stretched out his raised arms as high as they would go. Then he heaved, as if he was throwing something… Then the meteor landed on Luster Dragon, crushing it. Ryuuji's Life Points sank as he reeled back from the explosion.

"Follow up attack, Sasuke! Samurai Axe!" The little monster flung his axe at the face-down monster on Ryuuji's field. The card flipped up and a large dragon appeared. Lifting its head, it caught the axe with its teeth easily, then spit it back out at the ground. Sasuke Samurai ran forward and retrieved it, then returned to Kizuna's field.

"That was Dragon Dwelling in the Cave." Ryuuji said. "It's got 2000 defense points, so the battle did nothing."

"Why does he run a card like that?" Hoshino asked. "You said he doesn't like defending."

Shin shrugged. "Tribute fodder, I think."

Kizuna sighed. "Pity. Well, that's my turn."

(RYUUJI: 6800) (KIZUNA: 7500)

"All right, I survived… Draw!" He shouted, tugging at the top card of his deck. His hand slipped, and came away without a card. He blinked and tried again. The card seemed stuck.

"Wh-What's going on? Did my disk break?!" he muttered frantically, repeatedly trying to draw, only to have the card stay firmly locked into the disk each time.

"Idiot." Kizuna sighed.

"What was that?!"

"Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi's effect. The turn after he deals battle damage, you have to discard your hand before you can draw." She informed him.

"… No way." Ryuuji's eyes widened. _My Tyrant Dragon!_

"Way. Dump 'em!" she giggled.

Ryuuji sighed in defeat and slid his hand into his discard slot. "Damn it… It's okay, though! My next card's a good one! It's gonna be a good one! I can feel it! Draw!" This time, the card came out easily. Ryuuji stared at it. _…Wingbeat of a Giant Dragon…? Damn it._ "I- I end my turn."

"So much for your great draw!" Kizuna laughed. "Draw!" Slashing the card out of her disk, she didn't even both looking at it. "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, attack!"

The grinning man jumped forward and punched. A meteor of fire shot forth from his first and destroyed the Dragon… Then the bit that overflowed past the dragon slammed into Ryuuji, burning him. He raised his arms to cover his face, shielding his eyes from the flame. Then he felt them both being cut off. "Samurai Axe!" Kizuna yelled.

Ryuuji staggered back slightly. This new system was a clear improvement on the old one in every way… the monsters even felt more real, when they were chopping you up. Ryuuji made a note to avoid direct attacks whenever possible.

"Sasuke Samurai 3's effect activates!" Kizuna laughed.

"That thing has a special effect…?" Ryuuji asked with growing trepidation.

"Yep! When it does damage to you… You draw 'til you have seven cards in hand!" The laughter was mocking.

"… Oh, _hell_."

"This looks really bad for him." Stephen noted.

"It's very bad." Shin agreed. "But it has a major weakness."

"What would that be?" Hoshino asked. "I don't see one…"

"Keeping Ryuuji's hand empty is forcing her to keep her own the same way." Shin explained. "She has to discard a card at the end of every turn to keep Spiritual Energy Settle Machine on the field. Now that she's already used Pot of Greed… No matter what she draws, she can't play it."

"That's not going to help him much if he can't mount a counterattack." Stephen said.

"And that ends my turn!" Kizuna smirked.

(RYUUJI: 4000) (KIZUNA: 7500)

"I discard my hand… Draw!" Ryuuji shouted. "…Not great, but it'll do! I set a monster and end my turn!"

"You set a monster? You moron! I'll still do damage through defenses with Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi!" She laughed again. "So here I go! Attack, Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi!"

The fiery meteor shot forward. The card revealed itself to be a red-and-grey dragon with a strangely shaped face just before it was vaporized.

Ryuuji grinned even as his life points sank. "The reason I set it, Kizuna, is because if you knew what it was, you might think better of killing it. It was a Masked Dragon!"

"Clever bastard." Shin remarked to himself.

"Masked Dragon's effect activates! I can special summon another dragon with an attack of 1500 or less to the field!" Ryuuji grinned. "And the monster I choose… Is another Masked Dragon in defense mode!"

Kizuna's eyes widened. "Wait, that means-"

"Yep! Sasuke Samurai can't pierce, and my hand is empty… So your mill won't be doing any discarding to me this turn!" He exclaimed triumphantly.

"Argh… So you got one lucky draw! It won't last forever! Sasuke Samurai #3, attack that Masked Dragon!" The spherical samurai shot forward and cleaved the hapless dragon in two with its' axe.

"And again!" Ryuuji laughed, as another Masked Dragon appeared in defense mode.

Kizuna growled. "Fine! I discard for the Machine's cost and end my turn!"

(RYUUJI: 2300) (KIZUNA: 7500)

"Draw!" Ryuuji looked at the card. _Another dead draw… It'll be useful later, though._ "I set one magic or trap card and end my turn!"

"Like there's a trap card in a Dragon deck that can stop me!" Kizuna shouted. "I doubt you can even afford anything like a Mirror Force that could work!"

_She's right…_ Ryuuji grinned sheepishly. _No way I can afford one of those._

"Draw!" Again, she didn't even bother looking at it. "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, do your thing! Attack!" The Masked Dragon melted. "Well, your wall is gone, finally!" Kizuna laughed. "What can you summon for its' effect no-"

"Troop Dragon in defense mode!"

"DAMN IT!" She yelled.

"You know, you're getting awfully worked up over this…" Ryuuji stepped back slightly. "It's just a game, right? No stress?"

"SASUKE SAMURAI ATTACKS!"

"Sheesh…" Ryuuji muttered. "No more caffeine for this one."

"Actually, I don't drink much caffeine." Kizuna admitted. "Soda and coffee don't go well with much spicy food, and that's the best kind of food."

"Oh, I see." Ryuuji nodded. "That makes se- Wait, aren't we getting sidetracked?"  
"Oh, right! Troop Dragon dies!"

"And is immediately replaced by another one." Ryuuji smirked.

Kizuna glowered. "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi still dealt damage, so you'll still have to discard your hand!"

Raising his arms to show he had no cards, he asked simply. "What hand?"

"The one you're about to get! Spell card, Coins from Heaven!" she shouted.

"…Coins from Heaven? As in, the Coins from Heaven where we both draw until we have six cards?" Ryuuji asked with trepidation.

"There's no other kind, is there?" Kizuna returned snippily.

"How did you get such a rare card?!" Ryuuji gaped.

"Pulled it."

"Pulled it?!"

"Yeah. Some of us weird people, actually go out and get cards from booster packs, y'know."

"Okay, okay, sheesh. Luckiest pull ever." Ryuuji muttered.

"Not really." Kizuna remarked. "Someone else there at the same time pulled both a Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys and a Horus the Black Flame Dragon level 6 from the same pack."

Ryuuji's jaw dropped. "That's just insane…"

"Now who's getting sidetracked? Draw, you!" she commanded. Ryuuji jumped. He had indeed gotten sidetracked. "I was about to!" he protested, drawing six.

_It doesn't matter what he gets next turn, after all._ Kizuna grinned to herself. _This Judgment of Anubis will stop any attempts to destroy my Machine, and beat him in the same move. I have nothing to worry about..._

"Now I set a card and end my turn!" she stated, discarding.

(RYUUJI: 600) (KIZUNA: 7500)

"I discard these, and draw." Ryuuji muttered. He drew a card, and glanced at it. "Pot of Greed." He declared, drawing twice. He looked at the new cards. The look of the boredom from the inevitable loss turned into a huge grin of victory. "Yes! My turnaround is here! Luckiest draw ever!" he yelled.

"I activate my set magic card, Dragon's Mirror! I remove Lord of D. and Divine Dragon Ragnarok from play to summon the King Dragun!" A large mirror appeared in the center of the field. A large pink dragon and a man in armor appeared. The Lord of D. jumped up, landing on the back of the Divine Dragon, and they flew into the mirror. Then, as soon as they had vanished from sight, they appeared again… Except instead of separate entities, they were one. The torso and head of Lord of D, in golden armor, attacked to the body of a long golden dragon. (2400 ATK)

"Special effect lets me Special Summon a Dragon from my hand!" He yelled. "I summon Des Volstgalph!" As he slapped the card onto the disk, a large red dragon wheeled down from the sky. (2200 ATK)

"That's-" Kizuna tried to say, but was cut off.

"Then I play the magic card, Monster Reborn! Des Volstgalph's attack rises by 200 thanks to my playing a Magic Card… Now I revive a beast so legendary and powerful, that to restore him to life, I have to sacrifice a dragon! So Troop Dragon goes to the graveyard so Tyrant Dragon can live!" The armored dragon vanished. The ground split open, and out crawled a mighty brown dragon, powerful limbs rippling as he shook off dirt. (2900 ATK)

"Tyrant Dragon! Attack!" he yelled. "Destroy Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi!"

The fiery man's eyes widened. He turned to flee, but too late. The dragon launched forward. Its mouth opened and it bore down on Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi. Everyone present averted their eyes to avoid seeing the poor spirit being swallowed whole.

"Tyrant Dragon's effect allows him, if there's still a monster on your field after he killed the first, to attack again!" Ryuuji explained. "So go to it! _Itadakimasu!_" Hoshino turned and knelt, looking rather green from simply the sounds. Stephen patted her back, while Shin just sighed.

(RYUUJI: 600) (KIZUNA: 6500)

"Now, next! King Dragun, direct attack!" Ryuuji exclaimed. The dragon-man inhaled and shot a great gout of flame from its mouth at Kizuna.

(RYUUJI: 600) (KIZUNA: 4100)

"Keep going, guys! Des Volstgalph, your turn!" The thinner dragon shot forward and slashed Kizuna with its claws, causing her to shriek in pain.

(RYUUJIi: 600) (KIZUNA: 1700)

"I- It's not enough! I still have-" she began.

"It's not?" Ryuuji did the math in his head and realized he had indeed come up short. "Eh, it's close enough. I activate my ability!" Ryuuji shouted. "Once per game, even during my Battle Phase, I can Normal Summon a Dragon-type monster with an attack of 1500 or less from my deck by paying 500 life points!"

"But that still won't be enough to finish me! Next turn I'll-" She started again.

"You don't have a next turn… _Emergency Dragon Call_!" Ryuuji roared at the sky. The words echoed momentarily, and faded… And suddenly, were greeted by another roar. A shadow flew down from the sky as Ryuuji's life points sank to 100. The shadow was soon revealed to be a dark silvery dragon, scales glittering.

"I summon Divine Dragon – Excelion." Ryuuji stated triumphantly. "When he's Normal Summoned, he gets an effect for each Excelion in the graveyard… Which, thanks to your own strategy, I have one. I increase Excelion's attack points by 1000!" The dragon smelled Ryuuji's graveyard and roared in mourning, turning to face Kizuna with rage in its eyes. "Finish her off, Excelion! Mourning Fire!" A gout of silver fire emerged from the dragon's nostrils, consuming Kizuna, obscuring her in a whirlwind of flame.

(RYUUJI: 100) (KIZUNA: 0)

"That's my victory!" Ryuuji jumped up, cheering.

"He actually managed to win…" Shin nodded, impressed despite himself.

"That was cool." Stephen grinned.

"Damn it!" Kizuna yelled. "Lucky! You were lucky! If I had gotten to use _my_ ability… You'd-!"  
"What was your ability anyway?" Ryuuji asked.

"Uh… I can… well, I _could_ keep a Spirit Monster on the field during the End Phase by paying 1000 life points." She muttered.

_That… doesn't seem like it'd have helped her much._ Ryuuji thought to himself.

"Kaiba-sama."

One of the largest skyscrapers in Domino was known worldwide. It was Kaiba Land, the place where Death-T once took place. Kaiba Seto, the man who owned it, reopened it after the KC Grand Prix. However, no one suspected that all of the main activity in this building went on underground.

There was a large room about twenty stories below ground. It had the most state-of-the-art security money could buy and genius could make. A thief attempting to get in was tantamount to suicide. A staff of ten manned the ten most advanced computers in the world, all dedicated to monitoring this tournament. They all wore strange visors over their eyes while working, giving the impression that they weren't even aware of their surroundings, while a large screen in the middle of the room had the overall details of their combined work.

"What is it?" Kaiba himself stood in the back of the room, watching the proceedings. He made a note of the one who addressed him. A new recruit… his visor kept slipping. Apparently, he needed to order a custom-fit one for him… He made a note to do so.

"A Petit Dragon just defeated a Flame Dancer." The man said. He pushed up his visor as it began to fall.

"The results?" Kaiba inquired.

"The Flame Dancer remained as it was. However, the Petit Dragon became a Baby Dragon."

"Bring it up on-screen." Kaiba commanded. A few keystrokes and the large screen in the center of the room changed, focusing on a small area in Domino. Card images appeared on the screen. Each card represented a duelist. The card's strength was proportionate to the duelists, so that as a duelist grew stronger, their representative card did as well.

"He seems to be moving with a group." Kaiba noted. "That's… Along with Baby Dragon, there's an Hourglass of Life, a Necro Jar, and a…" There was a pause as Kaiba studied the fourth monster. "What is that?"

"We're not sure, sir… According to the database, it's named 'Cocoon Dolphin'. No records of it in the I2 databases." The man informed him.

"Cocoon Dolphin…" Kaiba mulled it over. "Isn't that one of the cards from the Neo Space project last year?"

"Where you launched that kid's drawings into space, sir?"

"Yes, that one."

"It matches. That is the card."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. He wasn't aware the database had access to cards that weren't cards yet. "Keep me up-to-date on the movements of that group." He said.

"Of course, sir."

"What about the other unique case?" he inquired.

"He has won three duels." A second person spoke out. This time, Kaiba idly noted, it was a girl who hardly looked old enough to be out of college. Next time, he thought, he'd hire people for these jobs himself instead of letting Mokuba do it.

"Show me."

The screen blurred, and the tracker moved from Domino to America… Los Angeles. Kaiba examined the card displayed.

_A4Nû╖ űðRçé \!I_

_ATK!\0_

_DEF: 1+û♠_

_Effect:_

Kaiba looked at the garbled text under 'effect'… Just looking at it too long gave him a headache. The image, too, was simply a white blur. "His opponents?"

"The same. We have arranged for a psychiatrist to meet with them."

Kaiba swore under his breath. Examining the screen closely, he noted a small pink dot next to the garbled card. "What's that?"

The woman with visors shrugged. "Analysis treats it like a Majestic Mech – Ohka. I figure it's just a glitch in the sensor from whatever's jamming that one player."

Seto nodded. "Very well. Keep me updated on this as well."

"Understood."

A few minutes later, Kizuna had simmered down a bit. Owing mainly to Shin managing to get the box of matches she had in her pocket away before she could set Ryuuji on fire.

"So, then… Now what?" Ryuuji asked.

"Since you're such a hotshot," Kizuna mumbled, "why don't you take on the famed 'King' at the mall?"

"I don't think the Burger King duels, miss." Stephen said diplomatically.

"Not _that_ king!" she rolled her eyes. "Domino Mall's got a card center, called 'Wizards and Magic.' The store holds tournaments sometimes, and the king of those tournaments should be there… If you think you can beat him, go ahead and-"

"Mmm." Shin looked up. "The rest of us need to duel, too. I think I'd like to play this so-called 'King'."

Kizuna looked up at him. "What? He's a champion! No way a goth like you wi-"

Shin's eyes narrowed dangerously. "_What_ did you just say?"

"Shiiiiit." Ryuuji grabbed Shin and started dragging him off, despite Shin's resistance. "Sorry, we'll talk again later! See you again sometime!" Stephen and Hoshino shrugged, bowed politely to Kizuna, and followed.

"What are you _doing_?!" Hoshino hissed at him.

"I am most certainly _not_ goth!" Shin retorted angrily.

"I didn't know he was capable of being that angry. Then again, I suppose it makes sense. Everyone can get angry, right? 'Cept for Amaterasu… I think. Can she?" Stephen rambled.

Ryuuji shrugged. "I can't think of a story where she did. Susano'o just scared her into a cave, but she still didn't seem angry."

Hoshino looked to the sky. "Hey, before we head to the mall, why don't we go to get some food, first? I can treat."

Shin shook his head. "You have no ideas what horrors you have just unleashed upon your wallet…"

"Yahoo!" Ryuuji jumped. "Free food! I'm sold!"

Stephen sighed. "Ryuuji-san eats at least twice as much as I do… Perhaps he's really part dragon after all, and so eats a lot? It may be impossible, but what does that matter? It could be possible… Maybe there really are dragons out there?"

Ryuuji grinned. "Don't need dragons out there, we got dragons in here!" He patted his deck case. "So where are we going to eat?"

_Next, the great King appears…At the restaurant. He refuses to allow them to order food unless they beat him…? What kind of guy does that? Regardless, Shin steps forward to face him. Then the King's 'Ultimate Destructive Deck' is revealed… _

_Next time," Mind versus Muscle!" … Huh? The Ultimate Destructive Deck is…_


	3. Mind vs Muscle

AUTHOR'S NOTE

At the behest of Meikyuu (who created Hoshino), I have created an IRC room for discussion of Battle Earth. Access it on the IRC Darkmyst server, channel #battleearth.

Also, since I forgot to in previous chapters, I'll do so now. Thanks to Meikyuu for the creation of Hoshino, Jime for Stephen, Neo Arkadia for Shin, and sapphirellama for Kizuna.

_Took Ryuuji long enough. Now it's my turn, it seems. It's odd, though. This guy's reputation is so great… It must be that he's a great player. One would assume so, at least… But I just don't see it. But I have to beat this guy before we can eat, so I'll step up to the plate, I guess. _

_Everything's prepared. Ready… **Duel.**_

Chapter 3 – Mind versus Muscle

"Ryuuji is never allowed to pick where we eat again." Shin stated.

"Agreed." Stephen and Hoshino nodded.

"What's wrong with it?!" Ryuuji demanded.

"Ryuuji, _look_ at it." Shin sighed. "It's a McDonald's."

"What's wrong with that?" Ryuuji asked defensively. "It's good, and besides, there's not a MOS Burger anywhere nearby."

"There are other foods in the world." Stephen said quietly. Ryuuji looked shocked, as if he was speaking blasphemies.

"Well, we're here, let's just get food and go elsewhere." Shin sighed. "Why's it so crowded, anyway?"

"Because, there are lots of people." Stephen replied. "Why else?"

"Thank you for that insight…" Shin sighed again. "Waiting in line will still be less-"

Just then, a kid cut him off by crashing into him. "E-Excuse me!" He said, backing off and bowing frantically. He then ran off without another word.

"Weird kid." Hoshino observed.

"…That little bastard!" Shin suddenly yelled, getting himself very odd looks from the other patrons. "Come on!" With that, he took off running as fast as he could. Looking to each other, the others shrugged and followed.

"What's up?" Ryuuji called after him.

"That little rat stole my wallet!" Shin yelled back.

"He's heading towards the mall entrance!" Hoshino shouted, out of breath.

Shin put on another burst of speed. "I got him!" He yelled, jumping over a small bench, trying to cut off the kid. Said kid managed to dart inside, though, before Shin could grab him. Muttering obscenities under his breath, he kept chasing him.

Glancing behind him, he noticed Ryuuji had stopped and was looking backwards. Waiting for Stephen and Hoshino, it seemed. He looked forward again, narrowly avoided crashing into a pole, and continued running as fast as he could until he made it to the food court. He skidded to a stop when he saw the kid handing his wallet over to another boy.

The boy stood up, and pocketed it. Shin took a careful look. At first glance, it was a boy, but the shape of the face and a few hairs on his chin revealed him to be slightly older than he thought… just extremely short. An arrogant sneer on his face caused Shin to take an immediate dislike to him. The boy… man, Shin corrected himself mentally, started to walk to a counter.

Shin placed himself in his way. "I'll be taking my wallet back now." He stated calmly.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the person (Shin was still having trouble reconciling the thought of him being old enough to be called a 'man' in his head) exclaimed.

"That rat handed you my wallet. It's in your pocket now."

"Th- This is _my_ wallet!" he said. "You can't prove that it-"

"Check the inside." Shin calmly told him. "My driver's license is in the front."

The person was sweating by this point. "Th- That's not…"

"Why don't we open it up and see?" Shin asked pleasantly. "And while I'm at it, may I have your name?"

"You don't know me?!" He suddenly looked dumbfounded. "I'm the King of this place! The reigning champion! I'm-"

"Lacking a duel disk…" Shin cut him off.

"It's at my table, dumbass!" he yelled. As he pointed, Shin did indeed see it lying where he was before… a golden Battle Earth-edition disk.

"Well then." Shin considered. "You're a good duelist, 'King', am I right?"

"Of course I am!" King bellowed. "I'm the greatest around! Can't you tell?!"

Shin looked at him closely. Short; slightly overweight, but a lot of muscle, unruly brown hair. Right down to the pug nose, he looked anything but a good duelist. Shin shrugged, though. It took all types. Some of the pro players seemed more like jokes than real duelists anyway.

"Well, then. Let's have a duel." Shin smirked. "An official tournament duel… And while we're at it, why not put stakes on it?"

"Stakes?" King asked.

"If you win, you can keep my wallet." Shin stated calmly.

"And if you win?" King asked hesitantly.

"I've got three friends here with me. When I win, you will buy meals for the four of us."

"And if I don't agree?" King growled.

"Then I call mall security and they take you away, 'King'." Shin smirked again.

"I- I accept!" He stammered. "I'm… I'm the King! You can't win!"

"You seem remarkably unconvinced…" Shin continued smirking.

"Shut up!" He yelled. "Let's go! There's enough space right here!"

Shin looked around. Indeed, there was a cleared space where they were, just spacious enough for a duel, but… "Are you sure it's in good taste? People might not want dead monsters in their food."

"Their problem! Let's go!" King shouted.

"Very well." Shin smoothed out his coat and activated his duel disk.

King took a deck out of a case in his pocket and slotted it in, activating his Disk. They stared at each other a moment, then both yelled.

"Duel!"

(SHIN: 8000) (KING: 8000)

Shin's disk beeped at him. Looking down, he saw the same screen that displayed for Ryuuji before. _Odd…_ He thought to himself. _Why did it trigger now? Ryuuji's was earlier…_ Casting that out of his head for now, he took a careful look at his ability. It would help…

"I'll take the first move!" King shouted. "Draw!"

"During the standby phase…" Shin idly stated. "My ability forces you to draw a second card. This effect… is not optional."

King smirked widely. "What kind of stupid ability is that?!" He yelled. "You're giving me free cards!"

"A helpful one." Shin calmly said. "Your deck… It's about sixty cards, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" King smirked triumphantly. "It's the most you can fit into one of these disks… You can't deck me when my deck is this size!"

"You'd be surprised." Shin grinned.

"You are running mill after all!" King yelled. "I was right!"

"That's for you to wait and find out." Shin suddenly glared, with piercing eyes. "Now move."

"I- I summon Great Angus in attack mode!" King shouted. A great red cow appeared before King. It then mutated, standing up on its hind legs and becoming humanoid. (1800 ATK) "And I end my turn!"

Shin raised an eyebrow. "Nothing to defend it?"

"What do you mean!? It's got 1800 points of pure attack power defending it!" King retorted. "You're the one who should be defending! Not like defending will help you!"

Shin just sighed again. "There's no point in explaining to someone like you… Draw." He glanced at his card. "I'll set a monster… And three cards in the magic or trap zone. Turn end."

King started laughing. "Look at this guy! What kind of idiot plays that many useless cards in their deck?!"

Shin raised an eyebrow. "Useless?"

"What're they going to do? It's not like they can attack me!" He was laughing so hard he was beginning to tear up. "D- Draw!"  
"For one, they can do this." Shin muttered. "Reverse card, open. Drop Off."

"What's that do?" King asked with a bored tone.

"The card you just drew…" Shin smirked. "Drop it."

King stared at the empty place where his card was a second before. "Hey, my Poison Fangs-"

"Oh, don't you dare whine." Shin glared. "Remember, you get a second draw."

"Ha! So your own damn ability just defeated the purpose of your own move!" King laughed and drew again.

"Shut up and move." Shin said as civilly as was possible.

"I sacrifice Great Angus!" King declared. The cow vanished. "Summon Big-Tusked Mammoth!" Suddenly, it seemed to Shin as if the food court was a bad locale for the duel. After all, a giant red wooly mammoth was taking up far too much room… If he summoned more monsters, soon the people in charge of the various food places would remove them.

Shin pushed it aside and spoke up. "Good thing for you these are holograms… That mammoth should hardly be able to lift its own head with those."

"What, are you afraid of it?" King sneered.

"Afraid? Not at all; though summoning large monsters will cost you." He tapped a button on his disk. "Reveal trap card…Monster Register."

(SHIN: 7000) (KING: 8000)

As Shin's life points dwindled, a strange _thing_ appeared on his field. It was an old-fashioned cash register… except with bulbous eyes, and fangs over the cash drawer. The register rang up a large five. The cash drawer slid open, and suddenly a large tongue shot out at the Mammoth. It trumpeted and jumped to the side, but the tongue kept going straight until it grabbed King's deck. King stared in shock, and then tried to rip his disk off of the tongue… He succeeded, but the tongue took five cards with it.

"What the hell was that?!" King yelled in frustration and alarm.

"Monster Register. Every time a monster is summoned… Its owner loses cards from their deck equal to the level of the summoned monster." Shin smirked. "Though it doesn't apply to sets or Flip summons."

"It won't matter, as long as I win quick! My ability activates! All beast monsters gain piercing!" King bellowed, and the mammoth trumpeted again accordingly. "Attack! Piercing Tusks!"

"Activate trap. Enchanted Javelin." Shin said coolly. The trap opened and Shin's life points leapt up by 2000.

(SHIN: 9000) (KING: 8000)

"You're wasting your time!" King snorted. "The attack continues!"

The mammoth charged forward, bowing its head so the tusks were pointed straight at Shin. Shin's set card flipped up, revealing a strange jar with a large thing coming out of the end…a black blob with fangs on the end, and a large eyeball between the rows of fangs.

The mammoth continued on. It impaled the jar, and so the impact was slightly reduced when it hit Shin. Shin looked down at his torso, seeming only mildly surprised when he realized the tusk had gone straight through him and was sticking out his back. "I assume these disks take 'piercing' damage rather literally." Shin noted.

(SHIN: 7300) (KING: 8000)

The mammoth withdrew. King was so busy smirking he didn't notice the destroyed monsters' pieces leaping at his disk until it was too late. As soon as he saw the pieces, they had already made contact with his deck. The rot spread from the dead monster to the cards, simply dissolving five of them.

"When you destroy Necro Jar," Shin informed him, "You lose a card from your deck for every 300 points of battle damage you deal with it."

"That was… You couldn't have known I'd be able to damage you through defense!" King yelled.

Shin shook his head. "You told me yourself. 'Defending won't help you'… Sound familiar?"

King twitched. He was starting to lose the little composure he had. "Why you…"

Shin wasn't listening. Watching the mammoth, he saw it had begun to tire from its charge. (2000 – 1600 ATK)

"A side effect of your ability?" he asked.

King grunted. "In exchange for their trample, after doing battle damage, they lose 400 attack points."

"The price of recklessness." Shin grinned.

"Then I'll set a trap, too, smart guy! Turn end!" King glared.

"Draw." Shin looked at his new card. "I set a magic or trap card. And I'll summon Necro Soldier." A strange monster, resembling a zombie version of the famous Nutcracker appeared. Monster Register turned and eyed him, and its' tongue shot out. However, before it could touch Shin's deck, he had already removed four cards and simply handed them to the tongue. It retreated, looking rather disappointed. "That ends my turn."

"Then I draw!" King declared. "Then I play…" He was cut off by his disk beeping angrily at him.

"Then you draw again. You can't have already forgotten that." Shin sighed.

"I- I didn't! I just thought…" He protested.

"You didn't think. Also, during your standby phase, I special summon another Necro Soldier to the field, this one in defense position." Shin's disk spat out a second card, and Shin placed it on his field. The new undead doll appeared, this one kneeling with its gun over its shoulder.

"Then I'll summon Berserk Gorilla!" King shouted. A large red gorilla appeared in front of him. It roared, and beat its chest, spitting fire everywhere. (2000 ATK) Monster Register grinned toothily, rang up a four, and shot its tongue out. Snagging four cards, it drew them back into its cash drawer, and burped.

Shin sighed at his monster's crass behavior. The Gorilla charged forward, as per his effect. Shin then calmly hit a button on his Disk, and a large clear barrier appeared. The gorilla charged at it face first, and bounced off. It stood up, rubbed its face, and tried again. After about five rams, the gorilla finally beat its chest in frustration and returned to King's field.

"Negate Attack." Shin explained.

"Damn it!" King swore. "How can you…" There was a slight pause.

"…Yes?" Shin asked.

"… **Now** I recognize you!" King stepped back, stunned.

"So you see your foolishness?" Shin smirked. "In dueling m-"

"You're that guy from the band! The worst flop in rock history!" King gasped.

There was a pause.

"What was that?" Shin asked levelly.

"That one band…'The Hellflowers' or something stupid like that!" King looked thoughtful for a moment. "You guys released all of one CD after spending what must've been years trying to find someone who'd actually sell your crap…"

Shin smiled at King. To the untrained eye, he would appear to be pleased to be recognized. However, those who knew Shin would be heading for a hiding place… The sole sign of his current mood was a twitching arm.

"I'm sorry, but you're mistaken." Shin said more pleasantly than most people knew was possible for him. "That wasn't me. That was my dear old man, actually…"

"So it's not that you're a loser, it's that you're the goth son of a loser!" King laughed. "No wonder you're too chicken to battle!"

"I'm too chicken?" Shin smiled again, and drew. "Then I suppose that there's no way I can, for example, sacrifice my two Necro Soldiers." His two monsters vanished. "And I certainly can't summon Belial, Marquis of Darkness."

A large man rose in front of Shin. His blonde hair reached down to his waist, covering the back of his cape. Black armor with elaborate designs covered most of his body. His nose and mouth were covered by a mask. But most striking of all was the large black halo and wings he had… He pointed his black claymore at King and glared. (2800 ATK)

Then the Monster Register, impatient at being forgotten for the dark angel, shot its tongue out and stole eight cards from Shin's deck.

"Belial…attack: Obsidian Fear." Shin commanded. The dark angel leapt forward as commanded and cleaved Big-Tusked Mammoth in two with one swing. The mammoth's demise, though, slowed the blade enough that it only grazed King.

(SHIN: 7300) (KING: 6800)

"You seem to have misunderstood something." Shin told King. "I'm no coward. I'm not afraid of battle. However…battle is boring. There has never been a battle between monsters I have been excited to see… To see two players match wits and strategies is far more interesting. That's why I have Belial. While he's on the field, no monsters with seven stars or less can attack."

"Shut up!" King bellowed. "Draw! I set a trap card! Then I play Premature Burial, paying 800 life points to revive Big-Tusked Mammoth!" A large red cross glowed on the floor momentarily. The ground shook, and rumbled, and suddenly the large mammoth burst out again, trumpeting. "And then I sacrifice Big-Tusked Mammoth and Berserk Gorilla for Mosaic Manticore!"

The tongue shot out and stole eight cards from King as both monsters were replaced. A large beast with a long neck and a lion's head appeared. It shook the nearby tables as it roared. (2800 ATK)

"It's eight stars!" King yelled. "So it can attack fine! Attack Belial!"

"They both have the same attack power." Shin noted. "They'll both be destroyed." As he said so, the manticore roared, sending sonic waves at the enemy. Seeing the attack coming, Belial hurled his sword straight through the attack, splitting off the top of the manticore's head. Then he succumbed to the attack, ears bleeding as he keeled over. Both monsters exploded.

"That's the end of my turn, since I've destroyed your best monster." King smirked.

"You think that was my best?" Shin sighed. "You really don't get anything."

"You don't battle! No way you have a stronger monster!" King retorted.

"Strength is not always related to how 'good' something is." Shin muttered. "Indeed, Belial isn't a 'good' card in this deck at all."

"Stupid! Why would you run a card you don't want?" King laughed.

"Because I do want it." Shin wondered for a moment why he was explaining, then shrugged and kept going. "This was my first card… It holds sentimental value, I suppose."

"Ha! What kind of idiot runs a card just 'cause it's got 'sentimental value'?" King snorted.

"The kind of idiot, I suppose, who is going to win this." Shin stated. "I set one monster and end my turn."

"I draw! And again!" King yelled, drawing twice. "Then the monsters I used to summon Mosaic Manticore return!" With a flash, Big-Tusked Mammoth and Berserk Gorilla appeared on the field. The mammoth trumpeted while the gorilla beat its chest.

Monster Register looked simply delighted as it shot out its tongue. First it stole five cards and swallowed them, and then it shot out again and took four more. It sighed contentedly as it snapped shut with those cards, too.

"I play Pot of Avarice!" Five cards slid out of King's graveyard. Shin idly noted he hadn't seen any of them played so far… He made a note that his strategy seemed prone to letting people revive monsters to get them out more easily. He'd have to find a way to remedy that.

"I sacrifice them both to play Behemoth, King of All Animals!" King grinned and slapped the card onto his disk. Anything King did after that, Shin never saw, as his vision was cut off as a tremendous purple beast appeared in front of him. Fangs bared, it looked at Shin like it was going to eat him alive.

Monster Register looked up. Its tongue lazily snaked forward, this time, and it stole another seven cards.

Behemoth then let out a mighty roar. The tables shook as the various other patrons of the food court held down their plates, no longer at all paying attention to the duel. Two cards slid out of King's graveyard and he added them to his hand.

"Then I play the magic card, Wild Nature's Release!" Shin took a step back as King slid the card into his disk, and hit the button to activate it. Behemoth's veins bulged, and muscles expanded, as the great beast began to drool, seemingly maddened by the card. "Attack! Roar of the Beast King!"

The behemoth roared. Shin wondered for a moment if Beast-type monsters even had another mode of attack. With all their claws, fangs, and horns, he figured they'd probably do more attacking with those…

The card flipped up. A strange knight in black armor was revealed. His sword glistened slightly, absorbing the sound of the roar. The knight was only visible for a second before it exploded into shards… But the sword remained. It pulsed, and the sound it absorbed shot back out, striking King.

King staggered back. "Wh-What was that?!"

"Hell Soldier." Shin replied calmly. "When destroyed, you lose life points equal to the same amount I do."

(SHIN: 4500) (KING: 3200)

"You… little…" King growled. "I activate my trap card, Cattle Mutilation!" Shin raised an eyebrow. "It returns to my Behemoth to my hand, then lets me summon a monster with the same level! So I summon Behemoth again!" The beast vanished, and promptly reappeared, this time much calmer.

Monster Register stared. It seemed as if it didn't want to take these cards. Shin noted it did look rather bloated. It snapped the cards into its drawer and turned a shade of green.

"What's wrong?" King taunted. "Your little monster full?"

Shin paused. "It's not a monster, stupid." He sighed. "And despite what holograms may show, it can't get full. There is no limit to how much it can charge you. And if you haven't noticed…your deck has four cards left in it."

"Since I have eight cards in my hand, I'll discard two… I end my turn!" King bellowed. "But I'll beat you next turn!"

Shin drew. "I'd like to say something dramatic here… Something like 'you have no next turn'. But that's not the case, sadly… But I will say this: I've won."

King laughed. "How? Your field is completely empty!"

"Magic card." Shin slid it into his disk. "Swords of Revealing Light."

King looked around as large glowing swords appeared all around him. "I know this… Now I can't attack for… What was it, three turns?"

Shin nodded. "And that's all I'll do."

King laughed. "You're so pathetic! All you can do is stall! I draw-"

"Twice." Shin reminded him.

"Fine, I draw twice… And then I'll just pass." King shrugged, and discarded two more cards.

"I draw, and I pass as well." Shin folded his arms and nodded back to King.

"This is boring." King muttered. "I draw twice and I end my… Hey, wait a minute." King looked down at his deck slot. He drew two cards, and realized he had no more left after that. "Th- This is…"

"Can't do anything about it, can you?" Shin smirked, drawing. "I hold your fate… I can win with just one word."  
"Y- You can't do this!" King shouted. "I'm the King! I always win! No one can beat me!"

"End." Shin declared.

"…" King stared at his disk.

"Well?" Shin asked.

"I refuse! You can't make me! We're stuck at an impasse!" King began to laugh. "So close, but I'll just stay like this until you forfeit and leave! You can't-"

"Draw." Shin commanded, glaring. King whimpered a bit.

"My… My turn…"

The disk beeped. A mechanical voice spoke. "Zainai Ahosuke decked. Victory to opponent."

"Now, then." Shin stepped forward. "If I may have my wallet back."

King threw the wallet at Shin and stepped back. "Here it is! Just go! I don't need your stinking wallet anyway!"

"I think we made a bet on the duel, too?" Shin smirked.

"N- No way! It's my money! Just-"

Shin stepped forward. For the first time, King saw just how intimidating Shin was, with his trenchcoat flared out behind him. "Hand it over."

King stepped back again. "C- Come on, I-"

Shin grabbed King by the wrist. "Pay up."

King reached into his pocket quickly with his other hand and withdrew a wad of cash. "Ju- Just take it and leave me alone!" he blurted.

"Very well." Shin removed his hand. Looking behind King, he bowed politely. "I believe you heard everything?"

King trembled slightly and turned around. And looming behind him were three men in mall security uniforms.

"I- I can explain…" King stammered.

"Please come with us." One of the guards stated. Two of them escorted King away while the last turned to Shin.

"You have our thanks for getting this guy to own up." He bowed. "His title of King was gotten through dishonesty… It seems that, whenever a serious problematic opponent for him showed up, he would send out underlings to steal their tournament entry money, or their good cards, or the like so they couldn't face him well. We'll see to it his henchmen get caught, too." With another bow, the guard left.

Shin watched smugly… then jumped as he heard applause. Spinning around, he saw Ryuuji, Stephen, and Hoshino all sitting at a table – With some irritation, he noted they all had empty trays of food in front of them.

"Good game!" Ryuuji cheered. "A bit boring, but man it was funny to watch!"

Stephen nodded. "Kind of an anticlimactic ending, though…"

"What you did to the poor boy was kind of harsh, though." Hoshino gave Shin a look of disapproval. "You took his money then turned him in? Is it really better than him?"

"How… How long were you there for…?" Shin asked.

"Since the Drop off." Ryuuji grinned.

"…You bastards." Shin sighed.

"Oh, come on, pull up a chair." Ryuuji laughed at him.

"We got you a burger, anyway." Stephen pushed a tray in his direction.

Ryuuji grinned again. "Your favorite: Ebiburger, pickles, and wasabi."

"Though Stephen seemed rather put off by it." Hoshino pointed out.

"You should be too!" Stephen said. "It's a tragedy! Do you know how many shrimp were put into that burger?!"

"Please don't tell us." Hoshino sighed. "I try not to think about what my food was before it ended up in my stomach, thank you."

"Though you don't seem to have a problem with my dead cow." Ryuuji idly pointed out.

"Burgers are pretty expensive, though." Stephen rambled. "That could be fixed, though… A herd of wild Japanese cows, would that be too much to ask?"

"I don't think that answered the question…" Hoshino laughed slightly.

"What question?" Stephen asked.

"… Ah."

"So where do we head next? Hoshino asked.

_Don't let him say what I think he's going to say…_ Shin silently prayed.

"Only one place in a place like this to head!" Ryuuji grinned.

_Damn it._

"To the arcade!"

-o-

Ten minutes and three thousand yen later, Shin and Ryuuji were locked in an epic struggle.

"Gotcha!" Ryuuji exulted, ducking low and performing a sweeping kick.

"Not quite." Shin jumped over it and aimed a kick at Ryuuji's face.

"Yes quite!" he yelled, jumping and uppercutting Shin as his fist caught fire.

Shin let out a sigh as his screen displayed a KO sign. Ryuuji grinned widely. "I may not be able to beat you in dueling, but at least I won't lose at fighting games!"

"Yes, but you'll still never be able to beat me at Tetris Attack, either." Shin muttered, attempting to save face.

"Well, sure, but that game's boring." Ryuuji shrugged. "And- Hey, a new challenger!"

He had lost a mere fifteen seconds later.

"Who WAS that?!" Ryuuji demanded. "That was insane! I was doing everything but that character just charged in and-" He stopped dead mid-sentence as Shin pointed a few machines down…where Hoshino was busy playing.

"…" Ryuuji was at a loss for words. "Sh- She did?" Shin nodded. "But that's… She can't have…" He stared. "I hope to god she isn't as good at dueling as she is at these games, or we're totally screwed, Shin."

"Ryuuji?" Shin muttered. "Remind me to stay on her good side."

Ryuuji nodded, then dove for another machine. "I'll get her this time!" he said assuredly as he slotted a 100 yen coin into the machine.

"We appear to be missing someone." Shin pointed out as Ryuuji hit 'continue' for the third time.

"Don't distract me!" Ryuuji said. "I'll win this time, I know it!"

"Well," Shin sighed. "While you're getting your ass kicked again, I'll go find Stephen." With an absentminded nod from Ryuuji, Shin wandered off to look around for their resident mullet boy.

He finally saw Stephen turning a corner. Running out of the arcade to give chase, and wondering why he had to do so much chasing recently, he found Stephen and a man in an electrician's outfit readying Duel Disks.

As they were about to start, Shin felt compelled to interrupt. "What are you _doing_ here, Stephen?" he asked.

"Well, y'see, I…" Stephen began to say.

"You're going to explain later." The man glared. "Right now, we're gonna duel."

"Awww, but I want to explain it!" Stephen pouted.

"Tough! You can explain later!" he roared.

"Okay, okay… Cranky old man." Stephen muttered the last part under his breath.

"I'm not old!"

-o-

"Sir, there's been another match from the group you were interested in." One of Kaiba's visored workers reported. "The Necro Jar defeated a Neko Mane King."

Kaiba looked up. "The result?"

"The Necro Jar did not change. The enemy was likely too weak to prompt any growth."

Kaiba sighed. It was a pity there was a privacy law against him finding out exactly who these people were. He'd find a way around it before too long, though. In the meantime, he decided, he would simply monitor their progress.

_Why would he be interested in this group, anyway?_ Kaiba thought to himself. _They don't appear to be anything special. They're good, yes, but not that good…_ A thought suddenly struck him. _Unless that's what he needs._

He stood up abruptly. "Ready my jet."

One of his visored crew nodded. "Your destination, sir?"

"Industrial Illusions."

_So, just how did Stephen end up in this mess, anyway? Who knows… How do any of them wind up in crazy situations? Life just seems to enjoy making weird stuff happen to the group, I suppose. But hopefully, next time we'll have some light shed on just what Stephen was doing during this time at the arcade. Well, you'll find out next chapter. It's called '**Conduct**', don't miss it._

**MOS burger** – A chain of Japanese restaurants. The MOS stands for "Mountain Ocean Sunshine". Very popular.

**Cattle Mutilation** – In the TCG, known as "Beast Soul Swap".

**Hell Soldier** – In the TCG, known as "Chthonian Soldier".

**King's Ability** – _Pyrrhic Charge_ – When a Beast-type monster attacks a monster with a defense score lower than its attack, inflict the difference as battle damage to your opponent's life points. Whenever a beast-type monster does battle damage, lower its attack by 400 points after the battle.

**Shin's Ability** – _Trojan Treasures_ – During your opponent's Standby Phase, they draw a card.


	4. Conduct

_Huh. How do I end up in these things? I don't think I'll ever know – It just seems to happen. But Shin and Ryuuji already had their chance; so I guess it's time for my Battle Earth debut. I just want to know what this guy's problem, is, though. But we'll find out before long, I guess. Ready… **duel**!_

Chapter 4 - Conduct

Stephen wandered the arcade. Ryuuji and Shin were making a scene at the fighting games, or at least Ryuuji was, but those just didn't interest him. He meandered past the racing games, and looked at the others. He made it a point of checking for Ecco the Dolphin (He knew they would never have it, but he felt obligated to search for it anyway.)

Eventually, he found his attention piqued by flashing lights and loud music. He went to see what almost looked like a miniature rave in the arcade, and found a crowd around the DDR machines. On the platform danced two competitors: A small girl with short blonde hair, and a taller dark-skinned man with dreadlocks and sunglasses.

_How does hair do that, anyway?_ Stephen idly wondered, looking at the man's dreadlocks. _It's like it's just one big strand of hair… Maybe he has giant holes in his head for the super-hair?_

Stephen took a drink from his soda. He was thankful that there were no 'NO FOOD OR DRINK' signs like in most arcades; Ryuuji had dragged them off before he had finished his drink. He began to wonder why Ryuuji was so impatient like that, anyway. Always running around way too fast; he should slow down; maybe he'd be able to pass those college exams, then.

His train of thought was interrupted by the man finishing with a flourish. The screens lit up, showing that he had a perfect score. The girl bowed her head and left the platforms, defeated. The tall man just laughed.

"No one can defeat me!" He called. "Who wants to come and challenge the great Step Johnny-sama!" There were murmurs and whispers at his challenge, but no one stepped forward. Stephen finally looked up at the man, and asked: "Who?"

The arcade fell silent except for Ryuuji and Shin's battle. "What was that?" An astounded onlooker asked.

"Who's Step Johnny?" Stephen asked. "You asked who wanted to challenge him, but…"

The man just stared. "Step Johnny is me, moron! I'm the great Step Johnny-sama, the greatest dancer alive!" He posed, and the crowd applauded.

"You're Michael Jackson?" Stephen asked. "Wow, I never would have recognized you like that!"

The entire arcade again fell silent again. "Are you _mocking_ me?" Step Johnny asked, arm shaking slightly. "You're daring to mock the national DDR champion?"

"There's a national competition?" Stephen asked. "I didn't know that… I should enter the next one."

Silence again reigned, save for Ryuuji's terrible defeat. "You think you're good enough?!" Step Johnny glared. "Get up here and play a round, then!"

"Okay." Stephen jumped up, and set his drink on the machine. "What song?"

Step Johnny smirked. "We're going with my favorite." He scrolled through the options and selected one.

"_Shuffle_ by Okui Masami." Stephen read aloud. "That's a pretty old song."

"It's still one of the best around. Now start!" He barked. The song started up, and the two began.

For the first couple minutes, the two seemed perfectly matched. They both got a perfect on every single arrow. Not one escaped the dancers' notice. The onlookers looked on with awe. Step Johnny spared a glance at Stephen's screen and growled.

_This guy is good,_ he thought. _It looks like we'll both get perfect scores… But if I can't win with the machine, I'll win with the crowd!_ He jumped, twirled, and still landed every arrow. With his working in kicks, spins, and generally showing off to the crowd, they were easily impressed.

Stephen, meanwhile, had forgotten Step Johnny was even there. He was simply moving like the arrows said. He was pretty pleased with himself for keeping up so well.

Step Johnny looked at Stephen's face out of the corner of his eye. With a minor growl at how relaxed he looked, he turned back to his screen again. Finally, at the end of the song, he finished with a high kick. Normally, this would be okay, if slightly too flashy. Unfortunately, his shoe nailed Stephen's soda square on, sending it flying into the screen. Not expecting to hit anything, he was thrown off balance, and ended up missing the last arrow.

"Dammit!" He yelled, looking at the soda-covered screens. "You did that on purpose!"

"I did what?" Stephen blinked. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, just that his soda was no longer where he put it, and was instead now all over the DDR machine. He sighed a bit; he didn't have the money for another one.

"You tried to screw me up!" Step Johnny accused. "It was your drink that made me mess up!"

"What are you talking about?" Stephen asked. "You kicked my drink… I wanted that still."

"All right, punk!" Step Johnny growled. "You and I are going to duel, right here and now. Since that golden Disk means you're in Battle Earth."

"Okay." Stephen activated his Disk. The usual screen loaded, and Stephen began to read the ability.

_Agreeing just like that? This guy must think he's good. _Step Johnny thought. _I've gotten better, though. I'll win, definitely- wait, what's wrong?_ Despite his efforts, his Duel Disk simply wouldn't activate.

"What's wrong?" Stephen asked.

"It won't work!" his opponent growled in frustrated. "I don't know why…"

"Have you dueled with it yet?" Stephen asked.

"Just once." He admitted. "I lost my first round, actually."

"Well, that's your problem." Stephen nodded. "You lost, you're out. Since you're not in the tournament anymore, it must not work."

"But that's stupid." Step Johnny looked up. "KaibaCorp wouldn't make millions of Disks just to break them immediately. Besides, it's not my fault! My first round was against Mutou Yuugi himself!"

"You were stupid enough to face the King of Duelists first round?" Stephen asked bluntly.

"He was an eliminator! You aren't allowed to refuse a challenge made by them!" Step Johnny barked.

"Still a pretty lame excuse." Stephen sighed. "So now what?"

"Johnny-sama, he's coming! Let's scram!" A person called out of the crowd.

"Damn it! Already? All right, I'm going!" Step Johnny jumped off the platform and the crowd rushed out.

Stephen just stood there, watching the retreating mass, wondering what was happening. He sighed. "My soda…"

He was then promptly grabbed from behind. "So it was yours!" a voice barked. Stephen jumped high enough to almost touch the ceiling, and spun around, out of the person's grip. He found himself staring into the steel grey eyes of an older man in an electrician's uniform. He was at least fifty, with grey hair coming out from under the hat.

"What did you dump soda all over my machine for!" he barked.

"I didn't do it I was just a spectator please don't hurt me." Stephen said quickly.

"I just heard you claiming it was yours!" he growled. "Don't try to deny it."

"Well, it was mine." Stephen admitted. "But I'm not the one who spilled it everywhere! That was some guy with weird hair… 'Steppy John-sama', I think he called himself."

The man snorted. "Like I'm going to believe every rat that comes in here and blames it on someone else!"

"Who are you, anyway?" Stephen asked.

"Shinjou Hikaru." He stated. "I'm the janitor for this arcade, and do you know what you just did to my workload?"

"Uh…" Stephen paused in thought. "Increased it by about a minute for scrubbing off the screen?"

"Don't I wish!" He grabbed Stephen by the arm. "Come with me, I'll show you something." With that, he simply dragged Stephen out.

They rounded a few corners, Stephen trying to keep up so he wasn't being dragged along. Finally, they made it to the janitor's office. Looking around, he saw enough tools to make his head spin. He couldn't imagine what half of them were used for.

"It doesn't just 'add a minute'," Hikaru told him. "I have to scrub the screens, but I also have to open up the machine, make sure none of it got past the screen, and if it did, I have to spend a while cleaning it out. Worst-case scenario, we may even have to get a new machine!"

"But it was just one soda." Stephen protested. "It can't be that bad."

"Don't you tell me how bad my job is!" he barked. "You've done all this to me, how are you gonna repay me?!"

"Uh..." Stephen considered. "I'll duel you?"

"How's that gonna help?" Hikaru asked, off-guard.

"Well, I'm in the Battle Earth tournament, so if you win, I'm out." Stephen shrugged.

Hikaru laughed. "All right! We'll duel! I'll accept knocking you out as repayment for it!"

"I'm not going to lose on purpose." Stephen retorted, slightly nettled.

"Good, it's better if I win when you're trying as hard as you can." Hikaru laughed.

"I'm not gonna be a pushover, either." He muttered.

Hikaru pushed some boxes aside on a shelf and took out a larger one. Stephen watched him take out the golden Battle Earth-style Duel Disk and strap it to his wrist.

Both raised their disks to begin, when a voice from the doorway asked, "What are you doing here, Stephen?"

Stephen looked over and saw Shin standing in the door. _Good question._ He thought. "Well, y'see, I…" He started to say.

"You're going to explain later." Hikaru ordered. "Right now, we're going to duel!"

"But I want to explain it…" Stephen complained. _It's not like it'll hurt anything… Besides, if he's worried about it taking too long and him having to stay late, why is he taking the time to duel?_

"Tough! You can explain later." Hikaru said.

"Okay, okay…" He sighed and thought to himself, _What a cranky old man._

"I'm not old!" he roared.

"Ack! You heard me?!" Stephen jumped. "You can read minds? Are you an alien?"

"… No, Stephen, you said that out loud." Shin sighed.

"No I didn't." Stephen blinked. "Shin, can you read minds too?"

"…" Shin tried to cope with this new comment. "… Yes, Stephen, I am. Don't tell anyone." He opted for the easiest route.

"Okay, just don't eat my brains." Stephen turned back to Hikaru. "Anyway, let's start!"

Hikaru shut off the screen that displayed his ability. "Yeah. I'll take the first-"

He was cut off by Stephen's disk beeping. "I think that means I end up taking the first move." Stephen grinned. He drew six cards while Hikaru, grumbling, took five.

(STEPHEN: 8000) (HIKARU: 8000)

"To start out, I play Terraforming." Stephen took his deck out of his disk and searched. "I take one Field card from my deck and add it to my hand." He took one out, put it and his hand in his pocket so he could shuffle his deck, then put the deck back in his Disk.

"You know the Disk can do that for you…" Shin sighed.

"So?" Stephen asked.

"Never mind." He sighed again.

"Next, I play the card I just got. The Legendary Capital: Atlantis!" The end of Stephen's disk flicked open and he placed the card into it. It slammed shut, and a great light burst from it. Suddenly, they were standing on top of the ocean. Clouds floated past overhead while the sun beat down on the three who were standing on the top of the water.

"What? This is just the field Umi." Hikaru pointed out. "Don't try to give it some fancy fake name."

"Well, Atlantis does count as Umi, but it's a different card." Stephen explained. "By the way, take a deep breath." With that, all three of them shot down through the water like they had been shot out of the cannon, sending up a spray of bubbles.

They quickly landed on the seafloor. Looking around, Hikaru and Shin looked incredibly surprised. There were buildings on all sides of them. Fish swam in and out windows, and seemed not to notice people in a place their kind hadn't been for millennia.

"Next," said Stephen, dragging them out of their reverie, "I'll set one facedown magic or trap card. Then I summon Mermaid Knight in attack mode!" A red-haired mermaid swam down to them, seemingly coming from the surface. (1500 ATK) She was clad in full armor, and looked more or less like an older Ariel from the Little Mermaid. (Shin sighed a little at this comparison- He hated Disney.) "That ends my turn!"

Hikaru drew. "I summon Thunder Nyan Nyan in attack mode!" A set of drums appeared on Hikaru's field. Stephen wondered what they were for. Then, ignoring all possible physics, a huge lightning bolt struck the ground next to the drums, scattering clamshells and kicking up dirt. When the cloud disappeared, there was a girl sitting at the drums. (1900 ATK) Stephen looked closely.

"I don't get it." He stated.

Hikaru was thrown off by this comment. "What don't you get?"

"Thunder Nyan Nyan." He pointed. The girl wore tiger-striped clothing, including paw-shaped gloves. She had short brown hair, and most distracting to Stephen, was the pair of horns growing out of her head. "'Nyan Nyan' is a cat noise. But she's got horns, not cat ears. She looks a lot like Lum… So why is she Thunder 'Nyan Nyan'?" he asked.

"You're thinking about it too hard." Shin sighed.

Hikaru placed two cards in his magic and trap zone while Stephen was talking. "Thunder Nyan Nyan attacks!" he ordered. His monster smiled sweetly and started playing her drums. Each hit produced sparks, more and more until she was barely visible behind them all. Finally, the drums released a massive lightning bolt at Mermaid Knight, vaporizing her in one shot.

(STEPHEN: 7600) (HIKARU: 8000)

"First blood goes to me." Hikaru smirked.

"Not that first blood matters in this game." Stephen pointed out. "Is it my turn yet?" Hikaru waved the affirmative. "Draw. And I'll use my set Jar of Greed to draw again." He drew twice.

Stephen examined his hand. "Hmm… I summon Warrior of Atlantis in attack mode!" A bright blue humanoid swam out of a house, wielding a spear. At first glance, Hikaru thought he had a mohawk, but as he looked closer, he saw it was a large fin. (1900 ATK)

"Then I equip him with Mist Body!" Stephen placed the card in the proper slot. "While he's equipped with this, he can't be destroyed!"

_That's not good._ Hikaru eyed his set card.

"So he attacks Thunder Nyan Nyan with Poseidon's Trident." Stephen pointed.

_If it can't be destroyed, then this is useless._ Hikaru looked up as his monster tried to fight off the warrior. Lightning bolts flew at Stephen's monster, but upon each impact, he simply became mist and the lightning sped on through. Finally, she turned and tried to flee, but the warrior cut her in two.

"Since their attack was the same, you don't take damage." Stephen commented. "Turn end."

Hikaru drew his card. "I'll just set a monster and end my turn." He stated. The facedown monster appeared on Stephen's field.

Stephen drew. "An effect of Atlantis is that, inside this holy capital, all Water monsters count as one level lower than they really are… even in my hand." He explained. "So I can summon a level five monster without sacrifice. I summon Orca Mega-Fortress of Darkness." The seafloor rumbled, and a large section opened up to reveal a hanger. What emerged was a strange cross between an aircraft carrier and a killer whale. Being underwater only added to the ridiculousness. (2000 ATK)

"I can't activate its effect right now." Stephen said calmly. "So he'll just attack."

"That attack I can stop!" Hikaru opened up his set card. "Activate the Holy Barrier Mirror Force! It negates the attack and destroys all of your monsters in attack position!"

"How'd_ you_ get such an expensive card?!" Stephen gaped, as both of his monsters were blown to shreds.

Hikaru ignored him. "Why is your Warrior gone? You said it can't be destroyed!"

"It can't be destroyed in battle. Anything else is fair game." Stephen shrugged.

"You should've said so from the start!" Hikaru growled.

"I did." Stephen blinked.

"No you didn't!" "I did." "Did not!" "Did too!" It went back and forth for about a minute.

Shin face-palmed. "Are you here to bicker or duel?"

"Draw!" Hikaru declared. "I sacrifice my facedown Batteryman D for the Super Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon!" The facedown card flipped face-up, and a fat blue battery appeared. Then behind it raised a giant metal beast vaguely shaped like a dragon. A hatch on its back opened up, and Batteryman D hopped in. The hatch shut again, and the dragon roared, surrounded by an electric field. (2400 ATK)

"Oh come on." Ryuuji interjected. "That's hardly a dragon. That looks more like Mecha Godzilla than anything!"

Shin jumped slightly. "Where did you come from?" He asked dumbfounded, looking at him, and noting Hoshino behind him.

"The door, duh." He grinned, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at an empty patch of sea behind him.

"It almost feels like we are underwater…" Hoshino said, scribbling something in her notebook. "These new disks are impressive."

Ignoring the interruption, Hikaru pointed at Stephen. "Super Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon, attack directly!"

"It's like a tongue-twister in card form." Stephen noted. The dragon opened its mouth and a large lightning rod extended from its throat. It sparked, and shot lightning straight at Stephen, but the water dissipated it before it struck. The machine roared in frustration, prompting everyone to cover their ears.

"Why is it lightning won't work underwater but sound will?" Ryuuji asked. Everyone else just gave him strange looks, as they couldn't hear him over the roar.

(STEPHEN: 5200) (HIKARU: 8000)

"Your turn." Hikaru stated.

"Draw." Stephen looked at his hand. "I'll just set a monster and end my turn."

Hikaru drew. "I summon Batteryman AA to the field in attack mode!" A small orange pile of batteries appeared on Hikaru's field. A jolt of electricity passed between the batteries and it suddenly stood, revealing itself to be… a humanoid made of batteries. (1000 ATK)

"That's hardly intimidating." Stephen pointed out.

Hikaru ignored him. "Then I activate Next to Be Lost, sending a Batteryman AA from my deck to the graveyard." As he moved the card, he watched Stephen's facedown card carefully. _If that card is weaker than Batteryman AA and I attack it with him, my Dragon can attack directly and I can win next turn… But it's better to be cautious._ "Super Electromagnetic Voltech Dragon attacks your monster!"

The beast roared again, sending sound waves at the card. It revealed itself to be a Torpedo Fish before exploding.

"Next, Batteryman AA attacks!" Hikaru commanded. "Assault and Battery!"

There were four collective groans, and even the Voltech Dragon seemed annoyed by the terrible pun. However, the Batteryman nodded and reached behind it. As it leapt forward at Stephen, it withdrew its arm, holding what appeared to be a pair of nunchucks, made of two oversized AA batteries and a bit of wire. It leapt forward to attack, whirled and spun its nunchucks, and nailed Stephen in the ribs with them, giving off a large electric shock as it did. Oddly, Stephen didn't seem to notice.

(STEPHEN: 4200) (HIKARU: 8000)

"Is it my turn now?" Stephen asked. Hikaru nodded. "Then I draw." Stephen stated. "I place one facedown spell or trap, and summon Barrier Statue of the Torrents in attack mode." A large blue-green statue appeared on Stephen's field, depicting an odd trident-wielding frog. "While he's face-up on the field, neither player can Special Summon anything, except for Water-type monsters." He grinned. Hikaru growled in response and drew.

"Well, it doesn't matter." Hikaru moved his Batteryman card from the field to the graveyard. "I sacrifice Batteryman AA to Zaborg, the Thunder Monarch!" With another bolt of lightning, the Batteryman was destroyed. A large blue and gray armored man appeared, at least twenty feet tall. Lightning crackled around him. Indeed, he cut quite an imposing figure.

To everyone but Stephen, at least; he kept looked at the monster's head and snickering.

"What? What is so damn funny?" Hikaru asked impatiently.

"It's got a green afro." Stephen snickered.

"That's not hair! That orb contains enough electricity to power all of Honshu for a month!" Hikaru retorted.

"It's still funny-looking." He chortled.

"When Zaborg Is summoned." Hikaru growled. "I destroy one monster on the field. So your Barrier Statue bites the dust." The orb on Zaborg's head glowed, and sparked. The monster seemed surprised as electricity shot out into the surrounding ocean. It tried to reign in its' electricity, but couldn't before it destroyed the Barrier Statue.

"Hey, Bobobo isn't supposed to do that." Ryuuji complained.

"Do I want to know?" Hikaru asked.

"Probably not." Ryuuji admitted. "It's an anime where a guy fights using his nose hair as a weapon."

"Yeah, didn't want to know." Hikaru grumbled. "Kids these days…"

"Back in your day you had to walk through five inches of snow, uphill both ways?" Stephen asked.

"Shut it, damn cheeky kid. I'm not that old!" Hikaru growled. "Attack, Zaborg! Rolling Thunder!" The giant cupped its hands and created a large ball of lightning between them, which he threw at Stephen. It hit the ground and started rolling… Until it started to distort, and finally was sucked into its own center.

"Negate Attack." Stephen explained.

Hikaru looked at his hand. "I… How did I miss this in my own hand?" He muttered. "I play Heavy Storm!" Whirlpools appeared all around the sunken city, threatening to destroy it. Destruction seemed imminent until Stephen started to glow a bright blue. He simply held out a hand and the whirlpools vanished like they had never been there, prompting 'ooh's and 'aah's from Ryuuji and Hoshino.

"What was that?!" Hikaru demanded.

"My ability, Deep Savers." Stephen grinned. "The Legendary Capital – Atlantis cannot be destroyed by effects that don't target… Really, it's pretty useless. I figured it'd never get use. Heavy Storm's the only legal card that destroys spells or traps that _doesn't_ target, isn't it?"

"Just… rrgh. I end my turn."

"I draw." Stephen scanned his cards. "I set one more spell or trap, and summon Amphibious Bugroth mk3!" A strange red submersible descended from the surface, looking down at Hikaru. "And while I have Umi on the field, or Atlantis, it can attack directly, with Lock-On Torpedo." The red machine moved slightly and opened twin hatches on its front. Both launched a missile, despite the attack's name. Zaborg and the Voltech Dragon dodged to the side, allowing the missiles to fly past and hit Hikaru directly.

(STEPHEN: 4200) (HIKARU: 6500)

"I managed to deal some damage after all." Stephen grinned. "Your turn."

Hikaru drew. "I play Pot of Greed!" He drew twice more.

"Awww, that card. Why'd Kaiba unban it?" Stephen wondered.

Hikaru ignored him. "I play Battery Charger. I pay 500 life points, and as a result…" He didn't bother finishing, as it was obvious: A giant battery charger appeared, with Batteryman AA inside. Electricity flowed from Hikaru into the machine, and the Batteryman's eyes lit up, and it jumped out of the machine.

(STEPHEN: 4200) (HIKARU: 6000)

"And I'll follow up with Reckless Summoning from Hell." Hikaru smirked. Two more Batteryman AA appeared on his field, filling up his monster zones. Stephen blinked as two more of his Bugroth appeared on his field, as well.

Then something odd happened. The Batterymen grabbed wires from somewhere, Stephen couldn't tell where, and passed them between the three. The electricity arced along the wires, and all three grew in size until they were as tall as Zaborg.

Stephen craned his head back to look at them. "Oh dear." He commented, watching.

Hikaru cackled. "Attack, all three Batterymen! Assault and Battery with accomplices!" After being met with more groans, the battermen whipped out nun chucks again. However, this time, each handle of the nun chuck was as tall as Shin, who was a head taller than Stephen.

"Trap open." Stephen pointed. "Tornado Wall." The Batterymen's attacks smashed Stephen's machines and sent sharp debris flying at him. Suddenly, a whirlpool appeared around him, leaving him dry and unharmed, as the ocean bent in a vortex.

"So that's what that card looks like underwater." Ryuuji commented. "That's pretty awesome."

"New Disk… improved physics engine…" Hoshino muttered, scribbling furiously still.

Stephen watched, and couldn't help but laugh at the distorted blurs that were once his opponent and friends. Looking through a whirlpool was interesting. "While Tornado Wall is on the field, I don't take Battle Damage." Stephen explained. "But it can only be played when I have Umi on the field."

"And this place counts as Umi." Hikaru recalled.

"Exactly." Stephen grinned.

"Well, then, I have to end." Hikaru sighed.

Stephen drew. "I'll just pass." He said, smiling.

Hikaru sighed. "This'll be a boring stretch." He drew. "Everyone attacks." A bolt of lightning, a massive roar, and three nun chucks later, he sighed. "Well, I was hoping that'd relieve some of the boredom, but I guess not."

Stephen drew. "I play my own Pot of Greed."

"Weren't you the one complaining it got unbanned?" Hikaru sighed.

"Huh? When did I do that?" Stephen blinked.

"Just… keep going." Hikaru was twitching visibly.

"I'll draw twice and…" Stephen looked back at his cards. "Hmmmm." He looked between the various cards, thinking hard. He picked one out like he was going to play it, then put it back and 'Hmmm'ed again. Finally, he looked back at Hikaru.

"I can't do anything, your turn." He smiled happily, prompting everyone to fall.

Hikaru did his best to keep his calm. "I draw… Set one magic or trap card and end my turn…"

Stephen drew. "I-"

Hikaru cut him off. "I play the trap card Dust Tornado! I'll destroy your Tornado Wall!" The card lifted, and a tornado appeared inside Stephen's whirlpool. The two spun opposite each other until they cancelled each other out.

"That was pretty dumb." Stephen pointed out. "Dust Tornado is a targeting effect, so my Deep Savers couldn't have done a thing about it… And once Atlantis was destroyed, I would've lost Tornado Wall anyway."

Stephen looked at his hand as Hikaru twitched. "I'll make you regret that now. I play Blue Medicine, raising both our life by 400 points." A blue aura surrounded them both.

(STEPHEN: 4600) (HIKARU: 6400)

"Then I play Salvage." Ryuuji looked around as Stephen stated this, expecting a crane to appear to give Stephen his cards. However, he was disappointed, as they were still underwater.

"These physics things are really inconsistent." He muttered.

"I get two Water monsters back from my graveyard." Stephen held them up, revealing a Mermaid Knight and Amphibious Bugroth Mk3. "I summon the second, Amphibious Bugroth mk3!" The submarine appeared again. "I equip it with Mist Body. Next, it will attack directly."

(STEPHEN: 4600) (HIKARU: 4900)

Hikaru drew. "I don't have any monster removal, so… Batterymen AA! Attack that monster!" Try as they might, the batterymen simply couldn't destroy the monster, but the stray fire from their assaults hit Stephen.

(STEPHEN: 100) (HIKARU: 4900)

Everyone stared at the totals. "N- No way…" Hoshino muttered. "Is he about to lose here?"

Stephen turned to the group. "Sorry, guys." He grinned. "If I had one more turn, I could've done something, but as it is now, I think I'm out."

Hikaru paused. "One turn? You can do something with just one turn?" He raised an eyebrow.

Stephen nodded. "Yep."

"Then I end my turn. I'll give you one turn to try to turn it around." Hikaru folded his arms.

"I don't wanna." Stephen turned away. "It wouldn't feel good winning just 'cause you let me."

"Stephen-!" All three of his companions called.

"Now you listen here, you uppity brat!" Hikaru roared. "I am giving you one turn! Show me what you can do! Learn some damn manners and accept what gifts your elders grant you, punk!"

"Y- Y- Yes sir." Stephen stepped back to his previous position, shaking slightly.

"What a scary man…" Ryuuji said in awe. Hoshino nodded.

"Be as that may…" Shin twitched slightly. "Will you two please get out from behind me? I'm not your shield."

Stephen drew shakily. "I- I… Sacrifice Amphibious Bugroth mk3, to summon the Levia-Dragon Daedalus." His submarine put out a beacon from its top. It pinged, and waited for a moment. Suddenly, an incredibly long blue sea serpent appeared, and swallowed the ship whole. (2600 ATK)

"And… when I have Daedalus on the field, I can send Atlantis to the graveyard to destroy all cards on the field but it…" Atlantis began to glow with a bright blue energy, the same as Stephen's Deep Savers. It slowly built up to a blinding point, and flowed into Daedalus' mouth. Atlantis faded, save for a huge blue mass of energy in the jaws of the sea serpent, which it fired in the form of a huge beam at Hikaru's field. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing on the field save Daedalus, which roared triumphantly.

Suddenly, three new monsters appeared on Hikaru's field. "That's my ability." Hikaru stated calmly. "Battery Change. When a Batteryman is destroyed by an effect, I can get another Batteryman in the same position. In this case: Three copies of Batteryman C." Three short, fat, blue humanoid batteries raised their fists at Stephen. (0 ATK)

"I feel kinda guilty about doing this." Stephen muttered. "Levia-Dragon Daedalus, attack the middle one." The sea serpent shot forward and snapped its jaws shut, swallowing the Batteryman all at once.

(STEPHEN: 100) (HIKARU: 2300)

"Why haven't you protested yet?" Hoshino asked Ryuuji.

"Huh?" Ryuuji blinked in confusion.

"Earlier, you were complaining that the mechanized dragon up there shouldn't be called a dragon." Hoshino clarified. "But that Levia-Dragon is hardly a dragon either. "

"It's an Eastern dragon." Ryuuji blinked. "It may be a Sea Serpent type, but its close enough to a dragon. It's even a Water-type like Eastern dragons should be."

"If you three are done, I'll go." Hikaru drew. "Batteryman C's effect is, when they're all in the same battle position, all machine-type monsters gain 500 points in that position."

Stephen blinked. "But aren't you running a Thunder deck?"

Hikaru laughed. "Hardly! It's using a lot of Thunder monsters, but it's at its core a Batteryman deck."

"Woooow." Stephen watched.

"I summon Inpachi!" Hikaru placed the card onto his Disk. A giant humanoid shape made of logs appeared.

"Not just machines and batteries, but plants too?" Stephen asked.

"Don't let looks fool you, kid." Hikaru smirked. "Inpachi is a machine." (1600 ATK - 2600 ATK)

"Wait a second." Stephen looked. "That thing's attack strength is equal to Daedalus'… That means I'd just have to kill a Batteryman, and then it'd be weak enough to kill. Even though you'd lose just from the damage from the loss of a Batteryman."

"Inpachi, go attack Daedalus!" Hikaru ordered.

"Oh, you could do that." Stephen watched in surprise as the two monsters killed each other. Daedalus, as usual, ate Inpachi alive. However, judging from the muffled explosion, Inpachi had self-destructed inside its throat.

"Ewww." Hoshino muttered.

"Now that that's over with." Hikaru said. "During my Main Phase 2, I'll switch the Batterymen to defense mode and end." The two Batterymen knelt, and tried to shield themselves with their stubby arms. It didn't really work well. (0 DEF)

"Well, now it's my turn." Stephen drew. "I discard Warrior of Atlantis to get another copy of the Legendary Capital - Atlantis!" He discarded the fish-man from earlier, and a card slid out of his deck. "Then I play Monster Reborn!"

"Why's that card unbanned?!" Hikaru stepped back. "I should've taken a closer look at that list…"

"Well, it's been toned down." Stephen shrugged. "For purposes of the tournament, Monster Reborn can only revive monsters from my own graveyard. But that's enough. I revive the Levia-Dragon Daedalus!" An ankh appeared over the field, and flashed. Suddenly, it was blue and scaly, and the ankh shape uncoiled into the mighty sea serpent.

"Then I play Atlantis again." Stephen placed the card, and they quickly submerged again.

"Disks… only as flashy… the first time." Hoshino scribbled in her notebook.

"Well, that's it." Hikaru looked up. "I gave you a turn, and you used it like you said."

"I don't trust that." Stephen grinned. "Sorry, old man, but I figure you probably have some sort of electric Kuriboh in your hand. So I'm getting rid of it now." Daedalus roared and vanished from the field.

"I sacrifice Daedalus to summon Ocean Dragon Lord – Neo-Daedalus." Daedalus appeared, right where it had vanished. But then it mutated, getting longer, with larger fins, and a few spikes. All in all, much more menacing, though Hikaru didn't get a good look. Instead, his attention was diverted to the fierce blue glow that Atlantis started to emit, this one seeming much angrier than the last.

It collected itself in Daedalus' jaws again, and it fired. Not just a sweeping beam across the field this time, but instead, it thrashed its head, sending the beam in every direction it could. All Hikaru's cards were destroyed, and then stray beams destroyed the few remaining Atlantean buildings. Finally, it roared and spun, incinerating the cards in both players' hands.

"Now then, Neo-Daedalus! Direct attack." Stephen ordered. "Cretan Destruction." With the last reserves of Atlantis' energy flowing to its mouth, the great beast Neo-Daedalus fired the ball of destruction at Hikaru. The room seemed to explode from the final strike, the shelves shaking and losing a few items.

(STEPHEN: 100) (HIKARU: 0)

"You did it, Stephen!" Ryuuji cheered.

"But it still doesn't feel like a win…" Stephen mumbled, as his Disk shut off.

"Hey, a win's a win. He knew the risks when he let you have that turn." Ryuuji countered.

"Still…"

"Well, if you don't like it." Hikaru grabbed Stephen by the shoulder. "You can always just drop out of the tournament on your own."

"But that's no good either." Stephen sighed.

"Well, do whatever. This was my last tournament." Hikaru sighed. "If you'll take knocking me out of my last tournament then going and throwing it all away, then go ahead."

"But I'm not throwing it away…" Stephen tried to say.

"I'll end up giving my deck to my son, Ikazuchimaru." Hikaru rambled.

_What a weird name._ Ryuuji thought.

"So go ahead, do what you will." Hikaru sighed dejectedly. "I'll just get back to my duties…" He slowly stood up, sighed again, and started to leave the room.

"W- Wait, I'll stay in!" Stephen called. "I'll get as far as I can, and…"

"No, that's okay." Hikaru shook his head. "I understand, you don't want to take my charity. I had hoped to at least make it to the finals, but…"

"Well, then, I'll just make it to the finals in your place." Stephen said. "Then it's okay, right?"

"Heh." Hikaru turned back to the four and started laughing. "Well, now. You think you can make it? Then do it. Get to the finals for me, and we'll see how far you can get from there. I'll be waiting for your victory, kid." With that, he simply walked out of the room.

"He was nice in the end after all." Stephen blinked in surprise.

-o-

A young man was waiting outside the room for Hikaru. He was a tall man, but still no older than thirty, with a dark red coat covering his torso. His messy brown hair reached down to just above his neck, and his face was framed by a pair of glasses.

"That was mean, Hikaru," he admonished gently. "Even if you've taken a liking to him, to send him into a guild trip like that? It wasn't necessary."

"You know as well as I do that he's one of that group." Hikaru responded. "If he's going to give up here, there's every chance we'll all die."

"That may be the case," the man acknowledged, "But it was still unnecessary. Besides, so far, the most likely candidate that 'it' is after is Jigokubana."

"The tall one?" Hikaru asked. "He doesn't seem to care enough."

"Looks can be deceiving." He responded. "And he's still the strongest out of all of them."

"I'll still put my money on the one I dueled. 'Suta' or something, he introduced himself as Stephen." Hikaru shrugged. "Good kid. He even got himself tattooed with the name of a dolphin. He's probably too much of a nature lover to let 'it' get away with anything."

"It would be much easier to narrow it down if someone would tell us what 'it' is, anyway. It's getting tiring just calling it 'it'." The man sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, but what can we do? Not even Kaiba knows." Hikaru shrugged.

"It's still frustrating: an enemy with unknown abilities, unknown motives, and unknown identity. All we do know is it's out there, it damages the minds of defeated opponents, and it's plotting to destroy Earth." He sighed. "It sounds like something out of a comic book."

"Don't strain yourself on this." Hikaru warned. "You know-"

"I know, I know." The man grinned ruefully. "I'm officially delegated to the sidelines."

"It's a pity, but your heart can't handle a stressful duel at the moment." Hikaru sighed. "I wanted a rematch at least once, but…"

"Well, after this is over, we'll see." The man grinned. "But don't be afraid to call on me if it's important. I'm just one man, and if it comes to it, I can at least be a pawn in a decent gambit."

"Don't talk like that." Hikaru said sharply. "We're not going to let you kill yourself."

"All right, all right…" he laughed slightly. "Anyway, my sister should be wondering just where I vanished to, so I'd better get back to her. See you, Hikaru."

"Take care, Kouyou." Hikaru waved slightly, and resumed walking. Damn overconfident kids.

--

This chapter's featured card!

Legendary Capital - Atlantis

Known in the US as A Legendary Ocean

Warrior of Atlantis

Water/Aqua

Level 4:

ATK: 1900

DEF: 1200

Effect: By discarding this card from your hand to the Graveyard, add 1 "A Legendary Ocean" from your Deck to your hand.

Note: Warrior of Atlantis is a real card that will be released in the upcoming set Force of the Breaker.

**Stephen's Ability** – _Deep Savers_ – Legendary Capital – Atlantis cannot be destroyed by effects controlled by your opponent. Legendary Capital – Atlantis loses its point bonus effect.

**Hikaru's Ability** – _Battery Change_ – When a Batteryman monster is destroyed by an effect, Special Summon a Batterman from your hand or deck in the same position as the destroyed monster.

_One crisis averted, but it seems there's a group set to assist the heroes. However, it's never that convenient, and when one group shows up to assist, another must oppose. Who, how, and why? Well, that would be telling. You'll just have to wait and see in the next chapter, **Lock**_.


End file.
